"No one has to try to read Kerry Collins' mind. Unlike the case of Brett Favre the past couple summers, all it takes to know what this veteran quarterback thinks in regard to playing this fall is to listen.

He wants to play one more season — preferably for the Tennessee Titans, the team for which he has been the on-again, off-again starter for the past five seasons. And he does not simply want to collect a paycheck.

"First and foremost, if I came back I'd come back to be a starter and win ball games," Collins said. "That would be my priority."

There isn't necessarily an overwhelming interest in a 38-year-old who has thrown 20 touchdown passes and 19 interceptions over the past two seasons. That's in contrast to Favre, who antagonized the entire league and the Minnesota Vikings with his waffling. Compounding matters is the owners' imposed lockout, which has been in place since March and prohibits Collins from talking to teams and gauging their interest.

"Kerry Collins is a free agent, and until the lockout is lifted we really don't know what's going to happen there," Titans offensive coordinator Chris Palmer said when asked about Collins during a recent conference call with the team's season ticket holders.

There are reasonable comparisons between Favre and Collins, beginning with the gray hair on their heads and faces. Each has put up big numbers over long careers. Each also has battled demons along the way — treatment for painkillers in Favre's case, alcoholism in Collins'.

Collins, of course, lacks the records, most valuable player trophies and a Super Bowl victory that make Favre a cut above virtually anyone else who ever has played the position. He also is absent the drama that tainted Favre's final two seasons.

There is no "will he or won't he" for Collins. He has a clear understanding of his place in the game and extending his career. (See related story below.)

"I think as you get to the stage of your career that I'm in, you realize that the window is getting small," Collins said. "Yeah, I know I'm going to have to stop soon. If it's not this year, then it's going to be next year for sure."

If he does continue with the Titans, Collins will have to start over in a sense. He was signed as a free agent in 2006 after the team drafted Vince Young third overall. The idea was that Collins would play for a time (he started the first three games), mentor Young and eventually turn over the position.

But things never went that smoothly. Collins started at least one game each of the last five years, took firm control of the job in his third season and gave it back the next, after an 0-6 start.

Now the Titans have Jake Locker, drafted eighth overall in April, and no idea whether he is ready to do the job or could use some veteran influence. "