Warner Is Cleared to Serve as Backup

As quickly as he bounced back, Kurt Warner is wondering if he really did sustain a concussion in the St. Louis Rams’ opener last Sunday against the New York Giants.

“I took a shot one way or the other that caused some of the symptoms,” he said Friday. “But I’ve had some doctors say that concussions are a relative term and others have said this may not even classify as a concussion.”

On Thursday, the Rams downgraded Warner’s concussion from moderate to “very mild” due to his rapid recovery.

Warner has been running the scout team all week, and won’t start Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers as a precaution after his six-fumble game against the Giants. However, he wasn’t officially cleared for backup duty behind Marc Bulger until Friday.

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Todd Sauerbrun became the highest-paid punter in NFL history, agreeing to a four-season contract extension with the Carolina Panthers that pays $1.5 million a year.

The deal adds in a one-year extension of the deal Sauerbrun signed during training camp, making it a five-year deal worth $7.5 million, said agent David Canter. It includes a $1.65 million signing bonus -- the largest for a punter.

His new contract tops Tennessee punter Craig Hentrich’s deal, which averaged $1.4 million over four years.

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Eric Heitmann, the San Francisco 49ers’ starting left guard, will sit out the Ram game at St. Louis after spraining his ankle during practice. Heitmann, a second-year pro from Stanford, will be replaced by Dwayne Ledford, Coach Dennis Erickson said.

The 49ers expect linemen Scott Gragg and Derrick Deese to play. Gragg’s injured ankle forced him to sit out last week’s victory over Chicago, ending his streak of 112 consecutive starts. Deese also sprained his ankle during the game.