Oakland Raiders coach Art Shell suspended wide receiver Jerry Porter for conduct detrimental to the team, the team announced two hours before it boarded a plane for Denver yesterday.

The suspension is for four games, beginning with Oakland's game against the Denver Broncos today.

The suspension will cost Porter $235,294 of his $1 million base salary this season. Players get paid on a weekly basis, so the amount represents 4/17ths of his salary.

Porter, 28, and Shell have been at odds since an offseason meeting in which Porter balked at Shell's insistence that Porter spend more time working out at the team's year-round facility in Alameda.

The meeting ended with Shell booting Porter from his office. Porter later said he wasn't pleased with the Raiders' decision to hire Shell instead of former St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz.

As a result, Porter was demoted to the second and third teams in training camp. Shell deactivated Porter for each of Oakland's first four regular-season games.

Shell said earlier this year that Porter was working on the things he needed to do to get on the field for games.

"It's a non-issue," Shell said of Porter's situation. "There's guys every year that might not want to be on a team but, hey, part of this business is you play with who you've got. If we have somebody on this team that's here, said he wants to be here or not, if he's doing what he's supposed to do, then we'll go to work."

Porter isn't eligible to rejoin the Raiders until after their game against the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 6. He has demanded a trade but so far nothing has been worked out.

The Raiders have until Tuesday's league trading deadline to deal Porter. If not, he is bound to the Raiders for the rest of the season, unless they release him. His contract runs through the 2007 season.

BILLS

ROOKIE MCCARGO PUT ON INJURED RESERVE

Buffalo placed rookie defensive tackle John McCargo on season-ending injured reserve yesterday because of a broken left foot.

McCargo, Buffalo's second first-round pick (26th overall), was injured in the fourth quarter of Buffalo's 40-7 loss to the Chicago Bears last Sunday. He had surgery to repair the damage on the foot on Monday.

McCargo broke the same foot as a junior at North Carolina State last season, missing five games. He had appeared in all five games for Buffalo this season, and finishes the year with 11 tackles.

To replace McCargo, the Bills signed defensive tackle Jason Jefferson off their practice squad. Buffalo acquired Jefferson last year when he was signed off Philadelphia's practice squad. He saw action in five games with the Bills last season.

PANTHERS

TEAM SIGNS BATISTE, PUTS MORGAN ON IR

Carolina signed guard D'Anthony Batiste yesterday and placed linebacker Dan Morgan on injured reserve.

Morgan announced Wednesday that he will miss the rest of the season due to lingering effects of at least the sixth concussion of his career, suffered in Carolina's season-opening loss to Atlanta.

Batiste, who is 6 feet 4 and 318 pounds, had been on Dallas' practice squad after getting released by the Cowboys in the preseason. He played in the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League during the past two seasons after his college career at Louisiana-Lafayette.