All NFL teams were required to pare their rosters down to 53 men this past weekend, and in doing so several notable names hit the open market.

Also still missing from an NFL roster: Shaun Alexander. His name has not come up lately and I have not heard of him making any visits to NFL teams. I think at this point he may only play this season if a team loses a starting runningback to injury early in the season.

Otherwise, Alexander might as well follow in Michael Strahan’s and Tiki Barber’s shoes and hit the TV circuit.

News on Rudi Johnson, Jared Lorenzen, Quinn Gray and Chris Simms after the jump.

Rudi Johnson was released from the Bengals’ roster this weekend, enabling him to seek out of team of his choosing.

Last week, the Bengals tentatively named Chris Perry as its starting runningback. Then, Cincinnati threw Johnson on the trading block in the hopes of landing a starting caliber wide receiver for insurance purposes.

The trade never came, and now RotoWorld is reporting that Johnson is visiting with the Detroit Lions tonight. This could be significant news to all Kevin Smith owners. The Lions are in desperate need of runningback depth with the rookie Smith and Tatum Bell as the team’s top two rushers heading into the season. Johnson would give Detroit some depth at the position and take some of the pressure off the young rook.

Matt Millen said today, however, that no deal was imminent with Johnson.

Quinn Gray and Jared Lorenzen both were cut by the Indianapolis Colts, which really is not huge news in and of itself.

But the underlying message here clearly is that the Colts are very, very confident with carrying just two quarterbacks — Peyton Manning and Jim Sorgi — on its roster, which speaks volumes to the team’s confidence in Manning’s recovery from knee surgery.

Chris Simms was released by notorious quarterback lover Jon Gruden this weekend, and has yet to find a suitor.

Simms was rumored to be on his way to Dallas at one point, but it appears as if the Cowboys may pursue Minnesota castoff Brooks Bollinger. The Ravens also were rumored to be interested in Simms’ services, but have opted to sign Joey Harrington instead.

For now, Simms remains a man without a country.