Wright injury gives the Panthers a receiver headache

The Carolina Panthers have placed Wallace Wright on season-ending injured reserve with a shoulder injury that requires surgery, a blow for their shaky receiver unit and special teams. The Panthers yesterday also placed Thomas Davis, the linebacker, on the reserve-physically unable to perform list, waived receivers Dexter Jackson and Oliver Young and placed defensive end Hilee Taylor on injured reserve with a knee injury to get to the NFL limit of 75 players for the season, which starts next week.

Wright was signed in the off-season from the New York Jets mainly in hopes of boosting Carolina's struggling special teams. But Wright had spent some time working with the starters at receiver. He was injured in Saturday's win over Tennessee, further complicating the Panthers' efforts to find a No 2 receiver. Meanwhile, the Washington Redskins have placed Malcolm Kelly on injured reserve, ruling the third-year receiver out for the year.

Kelly pulled his left hamstring before the start of training camp and has reinjured it multiple times since then. Kelly caught 25 passes for 347 yards last year. Clinton Portis, the Washington running back, practiced yesterday for the first time since spraining his right ankle last week against the New York Jets. Donovan McNabb, the team's quarterback, remained sidelined with a sprained left ankle, but he was no longer wearing a compression stocking on the leg. The New York Jets have waived back-up quarterback Kevin O'Connell, likely clearing the way for Kellen Clemens to make the team. O'Connell was acquired last September from Detroit in a trade. He was competing with Clemens for the No 3 job behind starter Mark Sanchez and back-up Mark Brunell.

* Agency