Shopping lists are getting longer

The Way We Hear It, the majority of NFL teams complete their self-scouting of their own rosters prior to the NFL Scouting Combine, build reports on players they believe will be unrestricted free agents along with estimates as to what bids on those players might look like shortly before and after the Combine, and then prepare for the week or so before the first day of free agency – salary cap week in many NFL headquarters – to see how much additional veteran talent will become available.

It is usually 10 days to two weeks before the beginning of the free agency signing period that the NFL establishes the salary cap for the coming year allowing teams to know exactly what they will have to spend and have some idea of how much contract restructuring they have to do, or veteran cuts they need to make to create the cap space they desire.

It is those veteran cuts that generate interest and sometimes even send slight shock waves throughout the league as a slew of new talent hits the open market.

2016 is no exception with the news in recent days that players like Mario Williams, Chris Long, Charles Johnson, Arian Foster, James Laurinaitis, Donald Butler, Jared Cook, Marques Colston and Donald Brown have been released by their former teams and now join the unrestricted free agent pool.

In most cases, these players are usually somewhere between one percent and as much 15-20 percent off their primes, but can still be among the best at their positions in free agency.

And there are more moves to come. If Calvin Johnson does not announce his retirement before March 9, when free agency begins, he will eat up as much as 15 percent of the Lions' available cap space.

As much as the Broncos may want to let Peyton Manning make his own decisions on his own time frame, if he is not off the books by the 9th, he will count $19 million against the Broncos' cap and along with Von Miller’s franchise tag it could become impossible for Denver to re-sign Malik Jackson and Brock Osweiler.

By saying nothing at all, Manning could force the Broncos to cut him.

Stay tuned, a number of big-name, very good football players are going to get fired in the next few days.

Is there a new market for 4-3 right ends

Just a few days ago, the best 4-3 defensive ends available in free agency were Robert Ayers, Jason Jones and Antonio Smith. In other words, the cupboard was bare.

Now the two names at the top of that list are Mario Williams and Charles Johnson, and we’re hearing that clubs like Tampa, Dallas, the New York Giants and others have taken notice.

Has Williams lost a step at 31 or is he still capable of 13 or 14½ sacks seasons like he posted in 2013 and 2014 in Buffalo before bridling at how he was being used by Rex Ryan last year?

Jonson averaged more than 10 sacks a season from 2010-2014 before battling through an injury plagued ’15 season and he won’t turn 30 until July. His release in Carolina was purely salary cap driven and while we hear the Panthers would like to re-sign him at a lower price, we’re hearing from sources around the league Johnson will be highly sought after elsewhere.