Charles Johnson "plans to" re-sign with Carolina Panthers

Update:

DE Charles Johnson agreed to a 1-year deal with the #Panthers for 3M, source said. He turned down $6M from other teams

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2016

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are repeating their free agency strategy from last year: talk to free agent defensive ends, then watch them leave for other teams. This time it was Charles Johnson, who visited the Bucs yesterday and will now plans to re-sign with the Carolina Panthers, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

With Mario Williams signing with the Miami Dolphins, Tamba Hali returning to the Kansas City Chiefs on a three-year deal and Jason Pierre-Paul re-signing with the New York Giants on a one-year deal, that leaves the Bucs with precious few options to bolster their edge rush in free agency. Bruce Irvin's out there, but the Bucs haven't been connected to him and he's likely to be too expensive for them.

There are some murmurs that the Miami Dolphins could rescind the transition tag they placed on Olivier Vernon, but it's hard to see a scenario where the Bucs decide to shell out premium cash for a defensive end who hasn't topped 8 sacks since 2013. That leaves the Bucs with some cheap, older options like William Hayes. And of course, there's always the draft.