Titans keep stocking up ex-Colts, now up to 5 and counting

‘Whether he decides to attack me or not, who knows,’ Harper said of Manning. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know the game plan. I didn’t practice with them. I don’t know what they’re going to do. I’m just going to go out and do what I’ve got to do.’

The cornerback used to know the Colts very well. But he left Indianapolis as a free agent in March after winning a Super Bowl ring with the Colts, and the Tennessee Titans quickly snapped him up to boost their secondary.

He’s not alone.

The Titans have added five ex-Colts to their roster since March 2006, four on defense for a team trying to become winners again in the NFL by picking up players Indianapolis can’t afford to keep or doesn’t want anymore.

‘It’s a compliment to their personnel group and to what they have done,’ Titans coach Jeff Fisher said of the Colts. ‘They have brought good players in and they can’t keep them all. We’ve just been in the right place at the right time to be able to acquire them.’

Colts coach Tony Dungy sees the personnel moves as a compliment, a move that only adds to Sunday’s first game between the AFC South rivals.

‘They did themselves well and got some guys who really can play the game,’ Dungy said.

The Titans started last year by luring linebacker David Thornton as a free agent and picking up tight end Ben Hartsock off waivers last October. Then they signed Harper in March, claimed linebacker Gilbert Gardner off waivers in May and signed defensive tackle Corey Simon on Aug. 28.

‘Half the team over there is us,’ Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney said. ‘But it will be the same business for us. It don’t matter who’s out there for us, you’ve still got to do your job’

Talk to the ex-Colts, and they insist Sunday is just another game on the schedule, important only because it’s a divisional opponent.

Some of the Titans don’t buy that.

‘I know my first year we played Arizona was a big deal for me,’ Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. ‘Anytime you get a chance to go back and play your old team, it’s a chance to prove and say to them, you think they made a mistake by letting you go.’

Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck pointed out that Thornton’s two best games in 2006 came against Indianapolis.

‘If that’s any reflection of how Nick’s going to play, that’s great,’ Bulluck said. ‘We’ll take it.’

Simon can give his new teammates insight on all of Manning’s pre-snap gyrations, motions and calls. Yes, they know the Colts likely will change up the calls. But Simon, whose 2006 season had him sidelined when the Colts placed him on the non-football injury/illness list, had a key tip.

‘Some of it is legit. Some of it is dummy calls. But as a defensive lineman, you can’t sit back there and listen to all that stuff,’ Simon said.