"It is the five words spoken over the public address system at LP Field that many Tennessee Titans fans have grown to despise:

"Starting at quarterback - Kerry Collins."

Get used to it, folks. Given the circumstances, the Titans have few other viable options. Odds are, Collins will be the Titans' starting quarterback if/when the NFL season begins.

Up until the Titans spent the No. 8 pick in the draft on Jake Locker, there was speculation that they might work a trade for Kevin Kolb, Carson Palmer or Kyle Orton. Free agent Matt Hasselbeck was viewed as a possibility.

Now you can cross those and several other names off the list. These are guys who fancy themselves as starters, not caretakers. They aren't going to sign on with a team to start a handful of games and then hand over the keys to a rookie who is the Titans' quarterback-in-waiting.

In a perfect NFL world, you'd bring in a younger quarterback with far more upside than Collins. But this is far from a perfect world. With the lockout in place, teams cannot hold organized workouts - voluntary or otherwise. Players are banned from the facility.

With such restrictions, the Titans are better off re-signing a veteran quarterback who knows the turf - and the offense.

You know the numbers, and they aren't very pretty. Collins is just 2-11 as a starter the past two seasons. Sure, it's not all his fault, but that's the plight of a quarterback.

OK, Collins' return isn't the slam dunk it was before the coaching transition. Jeff Fisher was a Collins loyalist. So, too, was Mike Heimerdinger. But neither is any longer on the premises."