If there are still hard feelings between the Panthers and Steve Smith, they're not coming from Ron Rivera.

With Smith telling reporters in Baltimore he's "89 percent sure" Sunday's game between the Ravens and Bengals will be his last, Carolina's coach called Smith "a future Hall of Famer" who should retire with the team he played for during 13 of his 16 seasons:

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Rivera: "That's up to Steve. I think he should, though. Think of all the years he's played here. But it's up to him. He'll decide what he wants to do and he's earned the right. What he wants to do is up to him."

Cam Newton: "There's not a lot of guys that you look down a dark alley and you say, 'I want to bring this person, I want to bring that person.' Steve Smith is one of those guys that you better make sure that he's on your team and not against the team because I've seen both of them. I would prefer him being on my team."

Rivera: "Wow, 89 percent? Well, there's still 11 percent. You never know. But he's earned the right to decide when he's ready to move on. If he does, it'll be the culmination of a great career."