I'm waiting to confirm the veracity of this report, but according to Steve Smith's page on Rotoworld he wants out per Steve Reed:

"The Gaston Gazette's Steve Reed confirms that Smith "does want out," and that his preference is to play for the Chargers or Ravens."

What remains to be seen is what this means in terms of Smith's contract, which runs through 2012. It seems unlikely the Panthers would let Smitty leave without compensation, meaning they would either wait until the draft and try and move him- or hold him until a CBA is in place and trade him for a 2012 selection. To me, the latter seems the most likely.

This is truly an unfortunate story if true, and I'm waiting to confirm this with Reed, but Rotoworld are not known for making spurious reports. They also link to Pat Yaskinas' story today which is basically a rehash of the original story broken by Pro Football Weekly that Smitty cleaned out his locker.

This week just got a lot more interesting, that's for sure.

UPDATE: I have been contacted by a reliable source who verifies this story.