Former Alabama wide receiver Cam Sims’ attempt to return to the NFL playing field won’t come with the Carolina Panthers. According to the NFL’s daily transactions report, the Panthers released Sims from reserve/physically unable to perform on Tuesday with an injury settlement.

Carolina had placed Sims on the active PUP list on July 20 when he reported to training camp. On July 26, the Panthers moved the wide receiver to reserve/PUP so that he no longer counted among the 90 players that Carolina is allowed to have on its preseason roster.

An injury settlement is an agreement between a player on injured reserve or PUP and his team that allows them to part ways immediately. Usually, the settlement pays the player based on the number of regular-season games that his injury is likely to keep him sidelined.

Sims’ injury has not been disclosed. But if Sims recovers during the 2024 season, he will be eligible to sign with another team.

Sims signed with Las Vegas as a free agent last offseason, but the Raiders released him when they reduced their preseason roster to the regular-season limit of 53 active players on Aug. 29.

Sims joined the New York Giants’ practice squad on Sept. 4 and was released on Oct. 10. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Sims for their practice squad on Nov. 30 and released him on Dec. 4. Sims joined the Panthers’ practice squad the next day and spent the rest of the 2023 season there without playing in a regular-season game.

Sims had 14 receptions for 207 yards and one touchdown for Alabama’s CFP national-championship team in 2017, which tied him with Robert Foster and Jerry Jeudy for second on the team behind Calvin Ridley’s 63 receptions. The Crimson Tide had two other two future NFL wide receivers that season — Henry Ruggs III and DeVonta Smith.

Sims led the Washington Redskins’ wide receivers with five catches for 131 yards in the 2018 preseason to make the team. But blocking on a kickoff return in the opening seconds of the first game of the season, Sims suffered a high ankle sprain and missed the rest of the campaign.

In 2019, Sims didn’t make the active roster coming out of the preseason. After a stint on Washington’s practice squad, he played in seven games and recorded two receptions for 27 yards.

In 2020, Washington again released Sims at the end of training camp and re-signed him for the practice squad. But he played in every game and recorded 32 receptions for 477 yards and one touchdown. Sims then had seven receptions for 104 yards in Washington’s 31-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the NFC playoffs on Jan. 9, 2021.

Washington kept Sims out of free agency with a one-year, $2.133 million contract in 2021, when he had 15 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns, and a one-year, $2.59 million contract in 2022, when he had eight receptions for 89 yards.

In 55 NFL regular-season games, Sims has 57 receptions for 804 yards and three touchdowns.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.