Wide receiver Steve Smith spoke to the local media following Thursday's practice at Bank of America Stadium. Here's what he had to say:
On the addition of Muhsin Muhammad and D.J. Hackett: "It's very exciting. It'll add a little extra to it as obviously Jake Delhomme is coming in, feeling good and looking great. It seems like he has a stronger arm and not showing any weakness as far as with that major surgery. With those two acquisitions and obviously some of the big guys on the offensive line, the rookie. Offensively I think we finally made an upgrade compared to the years prior. As those guys had left we really hadn't replenished. We have finally, and I can honestly see a big difference."
On if Muhammad, now 34, looks different than the last time he was in Carolina in 2004: "I was told things I do at 25, when I'm 30, 34 you'll be able to do a little bit better because you've been in the game for so long you'll be able to just manipulate routes and stuff like that. I don't really see any loss. He's obviously gained a lot of knowledge playing with different quarterbacks and then coming back here. He's gained a little more information like older guys should."
On if Delhomme's arm is stronger now that he's had surgery: "I think so. He worked out real good and you can see the difference in his body. I'm going to say he looks better."
On if Delhomme puts more on the ball now: "He can't out-throw me. He's never really out-thrown me, so that doesn't change."
On if he thought Delhomme would get back to this point: "I really didn't know the magnitude of the surgery. Going through an injury, I've seen that. I've dealt with a long, tedious process of rehab, so I knew what he was going to go through. I would always drop a dime and see how he's doing and check on him and he was always positive. That made me positive. I kept going through the locker room, and it was 'Jake's doing great. Jake's doing great.' "
On if Dwayne Jarrett (whom he called out last year while Jarrett was talking to reporters in front his locker) and if Jarrett has changed his approach to the game: "We're all here to play football. That's what we're here to do."
On if he knew how big of a loss losing Delhomme was last year: "I always knew it was a big loss. That's my guy. The magnitude, I didn't understand it. But at the same time with his loss, you've got to find something good out of it and I think for me personally, the best thing to happen to me was to bring in Vinny. Vinny gave me a lot of information, another friend that you can always call on. I still talk to Vinny from time to time. Vinny gave me a lot of information because he played for so long and he played with multiple offensive coordinators, different kind of receivers. I was able to take all of his knowledge. He was teaching me things he saw from some of these great wide receivers he played with back in the 1600s.
On the team's offensive line: "I was watching Jeff Otah today... outstanding. He did a great job. Jordan Gross is doing his thing. Travelle (Wharton) looks great from the knee. We've got Keydrick Vincent. He looks outstanding. All those guys are looking good. (Milford) Brown, he looks good. Rueben Riley, he's coming along. Jeremy Bridges, they've got some guys at new positions that are doing outstanding."
On the offensive line being big guys: "One guy that stands in my mind that I hold in high regard is Jeno James. A guy like that, there were times in the game when if Stephen Davis was in his way he'd run him over. Guys like that. Guys of that caliber are outstanding I like watching play. "