Jeremy Shockey expects rough treatment from opponents. He isn’t looking for it from teammates, particularly in training camp.

The New York Giants tight end missed Tuesday’s practice in Albany, N.Y., with post-concussion headaches. The three-time Pro Bowler suffered the mild concussion the previous night when he took a shot from safety Will Demps.

Demps downplayed the collision Tuesday, saying both players were going for the pass thrown by Eli Manning and that there was contact. Replays showed Demps’ elbow hitting Shockey’s facemask, sending the receiver hard to the ground, where he lay for about a minute.

When he got up, Shockey pointed angrily to Demps, who signed with New York in the offseason after four seasons in Baltimore.

“I was going for the ball and the outcome, you guys saw it,” Demps said. “We met at the same time. If it was one of those ones where I really wanted to hit him, I could, but why would I want to do that?”

Shockey was not available for comment on Tuesday.

Panthers

All-Pro receiver Steve Smith of Carolina did some light agility drills and caught a few passes while standing, the first time he’s been on the field since straining his left hamstring on Saturday.

The Panthers have given no timetable for his return.

Bills

Fullback Alan Ricard signed with the Bills, who are trying to bolster a running attack led by Willis McGahee.

Ricard, a five-year veteran, appeared in only two games with Baltimore last season before being sidelined by a chronic calf injury.

He is to compete with returning starter Daimon Shelton for playing time.

Ricard played a key role for the Ravens in 2003 as a lead blocker for Jamal Lewis, who led the league with 2,066 yards rushing.

Chiefs

Rookie defensive end Tamba Hali missed two grueling practices Monday to fly to his home state of New Jersey and take the test to become a U.S. citizen.

A native of Liberia who fled that country’s civil war 12 years ago at age 10, Hali wound up waiting about eight hours to go through the citizenship process along with about 100 others.

“They called me up, I went inside, took the test and passed it,” he said. “I waited a couple of more hours and got sworn in and signed my certificate.

“I know I should have been like jumping for joy, but being there all day, I was so restless, I was happy to get it over with.

“But it feels good,” he said. “U.S. citizen. Equal rights. I can vote.”

49ers

The 49ers released cornerback Bruce Thornton, who started 11 games last season.

Thornton, a waiver-wire pickup from Dallas last September, unexpectedly won a starting job in San Francisco, making two interceptions and 40 tackles. But the 49ers made moves to improve their secondary this season.

Thornton is the second 2005 starter in the secondary to be released during training camp. Ben Emanuel, who started seven games at safety, was waived Sunday when San Francisco signed Mark Roman.

AP-ES-08-01-06 2030EDT