Titans reach agreement with tight end Crumpler

A late push by the Tennessee Titans was able to give Vince Young a big target, tight end Alge Crumpler, to help him be more efficient at quarterback.

Crumpler agreed to a two-year deal, which the Titans officially announced on Monday. According to the Nashville Tennessean, the deal will be worth $5 million and includes a $1 million signing bonus.

"The thing that stands out when you look at Alge as a player is his production and reliability," Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt said in a statement Monday. "He is a complete tight end: a dynamic receiver for the Falcons offense, who also contributed as a blocker to a run offense that ranked first in the league in three of the last four years."

Crumpler was released by the Falcons on Feb. 15.

In the last two days, Crumpler was talking to the Titans and the Seattle Seahawks, but he liked two things about the Titans. He thought Young mirrored some of the positive things he saw from Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. For Vick, Crumpler was a big target who could get open when Vick scrambled, and the tight end could offer the same target for Young.

Secondly, his wife liked what she saw of Nashville and how it would be a nice fit for their family.

"I really am excited about the opportunity to work with Vince Young. I've admired him as a peer from across the league, and I was itching to get a chance to play with him," Crumpler said.

The 30-year-old Crumpler had eight touchdown receptions in 2006, and he and the Titans believe he will be a good fit for an offense that needs to improve red-zone production.

"He has 35 career touchdown catches, so he knows how to get open in the end zone," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said Monday while introducing Crumpler. "He knows how to get in the end zone."

"And I like getting in the end zone," Crumpler said.

Originally, Crumpler was thinking about signing with an NFC South team and having a chance to play the Falcons twice a year. Some of those teams weren't as aggressive in making him offers because they had concerns about his knees, though. The Titans didn't have such concerns and locked him up to a two-year contract.

Crumpler has 316 catches for 4,212 yards and 35 touchdowns in seven seasons with Atlanta.

"Good tight ends are hard to find," Fisher said. "It was an objective and a goal of ours at the start of the offseason to go ahead and upgrade this position. As they say, one person's loss is another person's gain.

"Whatever the reasons were in Atlanta to create a situation where Alge became available, we figured we would take advantage of it, and we have."

John Clayton covers the NFL for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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