Greg Hardy will miss the remainder of the 2014 NFL season as his trial date has been postponed. It was originally scheduled for mid-November, but it will now begin after the season is over.

Hardy is on the commissioner's exempt list.

Hardy was found guilty in a bench trial of assaulting and threatening his ex-girlfriend Nicole Holder, which is now under appeal.

Kelvin Benjamin said he purposely ran a slower than usual 40 in order to play for the Carolina Panthers.

“Because I wanted to play for the Carolina Panthers,’’ said Benjamin, noting he has been clocked at 4.41 seconds, which would have been fifth fastest at the combine.

Benjamin was drafted with the 28th overall pick.

Brandin Cooks was the fastest receiver of the class, running at 4.33 seconds.

“He’s fast, man,’’ Benjamin said of Cooks. “He beats you over the top. That’s what he does.’’ 

Cam Newton won't needlessly challenge Richard Sherman, but he also won't be afraid to throw in his direction.

"If the play is called for me to read it to Richard's side, by all means I'm going to do it," Newton said Wednesday. "And I'm going to give each and every receiver an opportunity to make plays.

"I'm not going to force it. I'm not going to be an idiot. I'm going to do a great job of protecting the football and be aggressively patient in taking what the defense gives me." 

Seattle's opponents already have as many touchdowns (6) throwing to Sherman's side as they did in 2014. 

Sherman will likely draw Kelvin Benjamin on a lot of snaps.

Cam Newton has yet to sign a long-term contract extension with the Carolina Panthers.

"He's our guy," Ron Rivera said. "We drafted him in the first round for a reason. Everything will happen in due time."

Cincinnati's Andy Dalton and San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick were drafted in 2011 like Newton.

Dalton got a six-year extension worth $115 million, while Kaepernick got a six-year deal worth $122 million.

Newton was required to sign a four-year deal with a club option for a fifth season.

The Panthers exercised that option earlier this year.

Newton is making a base salary of $3.3 million this year, but is slated to get a bump to $14.6 million in 2015

Steve Smith believes he was released by David Gettleman and the Carolina Panthers for personal reasons.

"Yes, it was personal with me and Dave Gettleman," Smith said Wednesday on Charlotte radio station WFNZ. "Obviously, I did something that got under his skin."

Smith had called into the station Wednesday to refute an NFL Network report aired last week saying he had refused a pay cut and instead asked for a release from the Panthers.

"You wake up in the morning after a good win, and you just read reports about [how] you demand this and demand that," Smith said. "Man, I just find it interesting."

Gettleman allegedly told Smith that he wasn't as good as he formerly was, while also serving as a distraction to the team.

"I say, 'Well, is this about a pay cut?'" Smith said of a conversation with Gettleman. "He laughs and says, 'No, this is not about a pay cut, but thanks for asking.' And then says, 'We're going to trade you.'

"... I pick up myself, walk out, shower and I call my wife and say, 'We're done here. I will either be traded or released.' I knew from the jump I was going to be released or traded."

Smith first heard of his release on the radio.

"He doesn't even have the cojones to tell us to our face,'' Smith said. "We have to hear it from someone else. Then he calls and says, like everyone else says, 'It wasn't personal.'

"If the first thing that comes out is, 'It wasn't personal' ... Guess what? It was personal. Then he says that [I] could have called at any time. And now that I played well, you're going to say I was a distraction, I've always been a distraction.

"But yet, I didn't beat my wife. Yeah, I hit some teammates six or seven years ago, but I didn't beat my wife. I didn't get arrested for DUIs. I didn't fall off no motorcycles. ... I made mistakes, but building this big old crutch about it as if I pushed their hands."