[Illusion]

One of the offseason goals articulated by Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher was to add more speed to his linebacker corps, and the Titans accomplished that goal on Monday morning, as ESPN.com learned that the club has reached a contract agreement with unrestricted free agent David Thornton.

The four-year veteran, who had played his entire career with the Indianapolis Colts, will sign a five-year contract that averages about $4.5 million annually. The deal includes $8 million in bonuses.

Thornton, 27, will team with Keith Bulluck, one of the best if unheralded defenders in the league, to give the Titans a standout tandem of outside linebackers. Tennessee is likely to lose two veteran linebackers, Brad Kassell and Rocky Boiman, in free agency. But even if that weren't the case, the Titans probably would have pursued Thornton, rated by ESPN.com as the No. 22 most attractive free agent.

Over the weekend, Thornton, who had hoped to remain in Indianapolis and will find it difficult to leave Colts coach Tony Dungy, visited with Titans officials. So impressed was Thornton by Fisher, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and linebackers coach Dave McGinnis that he extended his stay and instructed agent Brian Macker to start negotiations.

Thornton was to have visited with the Seattle Seahawks later this week.

The Colts had made some contract overtures to Thornton toward the end of the season but did not have sufficient cap room at the time to complete an extension. The team's recent history in free agency is that it does not overpay at the linebacker position and Thornton is just the latest in a series of starting linebackers to leave the Colts in free agency.

A former North Carolina standout, Thornton was a fourth-round choice in the 2002 draft, just the 106th player chosen overall that year. But he moved into the starting lineup in his second season and has been a fixture there ever since. After playing the 2003 season at strongside linebacker, Thornton moved to the weak side in 2004 and started there for two years. Bulluck has also started at both outside spots for the Titans, and so the pair provides the inventive Schwartz considerable flexibility.

In 63 games, including 47 starts, Thornton has 394 tackles, three sacks, three interceptions, five passes defensed and four forced fumbles. While he isn't a flashy player, Thornton is a terrific two-way defender, stout against the run and able to drop and cover. As a starter over the past three seasons he averaged 117.3 tackles and he posted a career-best 158 tackles in 2003.

[The Great One]

They can have him. I'm a Colts fan and everyone in Indy acts like the Colts are getting close to cap hell, but I disagree. I would have been more pissed if we overpaid for Thornton and Edge,. Both got a lot more than they are worth. Thornton is an average LB. The SAM is the easiest one to replace in the Cover 2 scheme.

People in Indy bitched when Mike Peterson signed with the Jags a few years ago because the Colts wouldn't overpay him. That worked out nicely as Cato June, a pro-bowler still in his prime filled in well. The only 2 people on the Colts defense that can not go are Freeney and Sanders. Freeney is FA next year so we have to make sure we have the $$ that we must throw at a then 27 year-old freak in his prime.

Colts don't have that many picks in the draft this year, but hardly any of their rookies from last years draft even played last year so this will be more like their rookie year. We will miss Edge, but that price was too high, Did you know with incentives he could be the highest paid running back next year? More than LT. For a guy that will be 29 by that time, has a previous ACL tear, and alot of carries on him. RB is the one position in the NFL that you are actually better at when you are 22 then when you are 27. Every other position, it is better to have experience and a few seasons under your belt.

People say the window is closing on the Colts and I agree as Manning is hitting the tail end of his prime, but to overpay for Thorton and Edge would have been a mistake. The real problem with the Colts is coaching. Dungy too big a wuuss to get it done. Manning maikes the real decisions. Without a doubt, he is the greatest QB ever to play the game, but he needs to pull back sometimes. Dungy was only brought here for the defense, basically to be DC, he's done that and needs to be demoted to DC so we can get a real coach that has the balls to not let Manning call every shot he wants.