The Jacksonville Jaguars informed veteran free safety Carnell Lake on Saturday that he will be released Sunday, a source told ESPN.com.

The 12-year veteran, who missed the entire 2000 season after undergoing surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot, will be among the group of players cut when the team reduces its roster to the mandated 53-player limit.

Lake was signed in 1999 to a four-year, $18 million contract that included a $5 million signing bonus in an attempt to get the Jaguars to the Super Bowl. The Jaguars made the AFC Championship game that year but lost to the Titans.

During the offseason, Lake restructured his contract and lowered his base salary to $500,000 while receiving a $1 million signing bonus. That saved the Jaguars $3.2 million of cap room.

He was one of several Jacksonville players who restructured their contracts this season to help the Jaguars overcome a cap overage of about $40 million.

Jacksonville selected a pair of safeties in the draft, James Boyd (No. 3) and Marlon McCree (No. 7), and the coaching staff has been impressed with both youngsters.

Lake, 34, was one of the NFL's outstanding defensive backs of the past decade, particularly in a 10-year stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers, when he sometimes moved to cornerback to help solve injury problems in the secondary. The former UCLA star played both safety positions during his career and was named to the Pro Bowl squad five times, as recently as 1999.

He also played in four AFC Championship games and in Super Bowl XXX.

Chosen by the Steelers in the second round of the 1989 draft, Lake made the switch from college linebacker to NFL safety seamlessly, and he earned a starting job as a rookie.

For his career, Lake played in 170 games, all starts. He had 809 tackles, 16 interceptions, 25 sacks, 16 forced fumbles and also 16 recoveries.

John Clayton and Len Pasquarelli are senior NFL writers for ESPN.com.