Defensive end Simeon Rice, signed two weeks ago to fill in for injured Pro Bowler Dwight Freeney, was released Tuesday by the Colts.

The San Diego Chargers have placed linebacker Carlos Polk on the ?Reserve-Injured? list with a shoulder injury. Polk was injured while making a tackle in the Bolts? Nov. 18 game at Jacksonville. He will miss the remainder of the season. Practice squad linebacker Jyles Tucker will take Polk?s place on the active roster. Tucker is a 6-3, 258-pound rookie from Wake Forest. He has spent the first 11 weeks of the season, including the bye, on the team?s practice squad. Tucker?s bio is in the team?s media guide. The team also waived defensive tackle Tim Sandidge from the practice squad, leaving two vacant spots on the eight-man practice squad. Those spots will be filled by Keith Jackson, a rookie defensive tackle from Arkansas, and Terna Nande (TUR-na NON-day), a first-year outside linebacker from Miami of Ohio. Jackson (6-0, 315) was a seventh-round draft pick in 2007. He went to training camp with the St. Louis Rams and spent the first two weeks of the season on their practice squad. In college he was a two-time All-SEC pick for the Razorbacks and finished his career with 191 tackles, seven sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions. Nande (6-0, 230) was a fifth-round draft choice of the Tennessee Titans in 2006. He spent most of the ?06 season on the Titans? practice squad but was elevated to the active roster for three games, seeing action against Baltimore Nov. 12. He was waived by the Titans on Sept. 1, 2007. He later spent one week (Week 5) of the 2007 season on Indianapolis? practice squad. Nande was a two-time All-MAC selection as a collegian at Miami of Ohio.

The Carolina Panthers, getting healthier at quarterback, waived Drew Olson on Tuesday. Olson was signed to the practice squad last week, then elevated to the 53-man roster Saturday. Olson, who went undrafted out of UCLA and has never thrown a pass in the NFL, served as the emergency third quarterback in Carolina's loss to Atlanta on Sunday. The Panthers brought in Olson after David Carr sustained his second concussion of the season a week earlier and with Vinny Testaverde trying to recover from a right Achilles' tendon injury. With original starter Jake Delhomme out for the season with an elbow injury, it left undrafted rookie Matt Moore as the only healthy quarterback. Testaverde started against the Falcons, and Coach John Fox said Monday he suffered no setbacks. Fox also said Carr might be cleared to play Sunday at Green Bay.

The brief tenure of defensive end Simeon Rice with the Denver Broncos ended on Friday afternoon when the 12-year veteran requested and was granted his release by the club after an unproductive stint. The release was first reported by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, and then it was subsequently announced by Denver officials. The move makes Rice an unrestricted free agent but also leaves him with an uncertain future. Concerns about his surgically repaired shoulder and his age, along with his performance with the Broncos, might dissuade teams from considering him. Rice may be gambling that a playoff contender in need of pass-rush help will take a chance.