Processing paperwork delays Jones joining Titans

When Jones agreed to a deal on Wednesday night, he and his agent had hoped the sixth pick overall and first defensive player taken in the draft would be on the field Sunday with the Titans for their first practice since their exhibition game with Atlanta on Friday night.

This time, the reason wasn’t the lack of a deal but a delay in processing the paperwork involved with a contract the Titans have called as big as they’ve ever had because of the details and language included.

“What we’re dealing with is the timing of the weekend and the approval process and the check system right now has been delayed just because of the weekend,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “We’re encouraged. We are communicating with them. We are just waiting to get an answer from the league level, the management council and so on and so forth.”

Fisher said the contract was unique because of some deferrals and items affecting the salary cap. But he said Jones and his agent, Michael Huyghue, appear happy with the deal at this point and that it could be finalized within hours.

Jones didn’t miss much. The Titans worked out lightly for about 90 minutes including stretching.

Fisher wouldn’t say if Jones would be in practice Monday or Tuesday, but he expects the cornerback to play Friday night when they visit San Francisco.

“He is in good shape and a good frame of mind. For the most part, he is happy to have the hard part behind him,” Fisher said.

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GOOD PICKUP: The offseason addition of four-year veteran Kyle Vanden Bosch is looking like a very good decision by the Titans.

Vanden Bosch was the only veteran free agent signed by the Titans in an offseason dominated by moves to cut salaries to get below the NFL’s cap. But he has three sacks in the first two exhibitions, including two in Friday night’s 24-21 victory with one of those on Michael Vick.

The Titans finished with three sacks in that game, all in the first half, and coach Jeff Fisher said he was pleased with all the pressure.

“We forced a lot of holding situations there. I know they had two or three that they could’ve called, five or six penalties on the edge,” Fisher said.

“We did a nice job. Kyle understands pass rushing and intensity, and so far it’s gotten him three sacks in two games against some pretty good players, so it’s worked.”

It’s a nice turnaround for a veteran who missed most of his rookie season with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament and the 2003 season with a torn left ACL. But he had been the 34th overall pick in 2001 by then-Arizona coach Dave McGinnis who joined Tennessee in 2004 as linebackers coach.

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RETURNING KICKS: The Titans are waiting for their top pick Adam “Pacman” Jones to hit the field and provide a much-needed boost to their punt return game. Thanks to rookie receiver Courtney Roby, they like what they see on kick returns.

Coach Jeff Fisher said he’s pleased with Roby handling kicks and thinks the rookie will do a nice job as their kick returner. Roby averaged 20.3 yards per return in college at Indiana.

“He’s strong, he’s physical, and he caught the ball very well. The subtleties of receiving a kickoff, if you receive a kickoff and take a step back before you go, you’ve allowed your coverage team to gain an additional five yards in field position,” Fisher said.

“If you catch it moving forward, you’ve got a chance to time the blocks up. That was something we wanted to improve upon last week and we did.”

Fisher said Roby caught every ball moving forward and did what he was supposed to do. Roby has averaged 17.8 yards per return on four kickoffs in two exhibitions. Tennessee ranked 30th in the NFL with an average 19.7-yards per return in 2004.

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SEARCHING FOR NO. 3: Based on performance, the edge in the fight to be the Titans third quarterback would have to go to Shane Boyd over Gino Guidugli.

Boyd completed 9 of 16 passes for 93 yards with a touchdown and a two-point conversion in the victory over Atlanta. Guidugli was 4-of-14 for 44 yards and set up a game-tying field goal in the exhibition opener.

Coach Jeff Fisher said Boyd, an undrafted free agent out of Kentucky, took charge and made the plays he needed even with timing issues involving some penalties and timeouts.

“He handled it really well. It was really a great fade throw,” Fisher said of the TD toss to O.J. Small. “Then the two-point play that didn’t end up affecting the game, but obviously it allowed us to take a slightly different approach defensively.”