Titans sign former Steelers safety Chris Hope
Hope has started the last 32 regular season games for Pittsburgh, including every game in the team’s run to this year’s Super Bowl. He had a career-high three interceptions last season.
“Pittsburgh was a great place,” he said at a news conference in Nashville Wednesday. “I was limited to just play in the middle of the field, but I have the ability to play either safety.”
Terms of the deal were not announced.
Earlier this week he visited Miami, and planned to go to San Francisco to meet with the 49ers, but decided against it after meeting with Titans general manager Floyd Reese.
“I felt Tennessee was my new home,” Hope said. “The Titans have been a very productive organization. In my rookie season, they beat us in the playoffs.”
Hope was the fourth free agent signed by the Titans this week, joining linebacker David Thornton, wide receiver David Givens and center Kevin Mawae.
“Again, I think (he’s) an example of what we’ve been looking for,” Reese said. “He went to Florida State, was a two-time Academic All-American, played in three National Championship games, has started two years in the NFL and already has a Super Bowl ring.
“So I would guess if there’s somebody you want to tie your wagon to, it would be this type guy.”
Reese said earlier this week the team was pursuing Hope to add depth to the secondary where the Titans started rookie cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones and free safety Lamont Thompson last year.
Hope has played a total of 62 games in four seasons and his career totals include 216 tackles, four interceptions, 17 passes defended and three forced fumbles. In eight career playoff games, he has six starts, 32 tackles and four passes defended.
Titans coach Jeff Fisher said Hope and Thornton should give much-needed speed to a defense that ranked 29th in the NFL in points allowed per game and 26th in yards allowed per game.
“We really feel like Chris’s athletic ability is going to allow him to do whatever we need him to do … cover the slot receiver of play around the line of scrimmage,” he said.
“He was basically a line-of-scrimmage linebacker in their (Pittsburgh’s) nickel-and-dime packages, so he has the instinct to do those kind of things. The thing that we look for in the position … is the athletic ability, the opportunity to put your foot in the ground, make a play, go make a tackle, ball skills and those kinds of things. That’s what Chris does.”
The Steelers drafted Hope in the third round in 2002, and he played primarily on special teams in his first two seasons to collect 14 special teams tackles in 2002 and 15 stops in 2003. He then earned starting free safety, which he held for every game in the past two seasons.
Reese said the team’s four unrestricted free agent signings this week now allows the team to approach the draft not having to fill those positions.
“It was one of the objectives when we started,” he said. “We didn’t want to have to go into the draft trying to hit 10 different spots. We thought … we had hand-selected a group of guys that we thought if we could get one or two, we’d be in great shape. We’ve ended up with four.”