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CHARLOTTE -- Three large boxes filled with shoes sat in Steve Smith's cluttered locker Wednesday. Smith wasn't around to open the shipment, and wasn't there when his Carolina Panthers teammates voted to replace him as a team captain, either.

Yet farther down the same row of lockers, the man whose nose was broken by Smith's sucker-punch a month ago at training camp insisted they'll overcome being without their three-time Pro Bowl receiver as he serves a two-game, unpaid suspension to start the season.

"It showed the character of this team for us to have the ability to move on," cornerback Ken Lucas said. "People could still be dwelling on it, but we haven't. If anything, it has brought this team much closer than where we were at first. We realize how much we care for each other once the incident happened.

"It's like two brothers fighting. You're going to fight sometimes with your brother, but you're still going to love your brother."

Lucas acknowledged players discussed perhaps seeing if Smith's team-imposed suspension could be lifted. But the Panthers practiced Wednesday without Smith, leaving them with only three healthy receivers for Sunday's season opener at two-time defending AFC West champion San Diego.

"It has been a topic of discussion, but because of the rules, it can't happen," Lucas =said. "All we can do is come out and win for him."

But it was clear Smith punching Lucas while he was on one knee with his helmet off during a break in practice Aug. 1 has changed the way Smith's teammates look at him. After overcoming early transgressions in his career that included a one-game suspension for punching teammate Anthony Bright during a film session in 2002, his teammates voted Smith a team captain last year.

On Wednesday, players voted to keep quarterback Jake Delhomme an offensive team captain -- and replace Smith with veteran receiver Muhsin Muhammad.

"It's a little unexpected," said Muhammad, who is beginning his second stint with the Panthers after spending the previous three years in Chicago. "There are a lot of great leaders on the field and guys that get it done."

The Panthers will not only need Muhammad's leadership Sunday, but also plenty of production on the field. He'll start opposite either D.J. Hackett, who returned to practice Wednesday after missing nearly a month with a toe injury, or Dwayne Jarrett, who caught six passes as a rookie last year.