Bironas wants contract extension

Rob Bironas would like for his future to include the Tennessee Titans.
But the veteran kicker insisted Thursday that there is only a short window to ensure that his future will be with the Titans.

Bironas, 34, is coming to the end of the four-year $12 million deal that he signed in 2009 and would like for the Titans to step forward with a new offer – and step forward soon. As in before the start of this season a month from now, otherwise he says he says he will explore free agency at season's end.

"This is the last year of my contract." said Bironas, "Obviously I started my career here, and I want to end it here. I hope the Titans get something together before the season starts, so I'm not trying out for another 31 teams."

Bironas is coming off one of his best seasons ever, 29 of 32 field goal tries, including an amazing 6-of-7 beyond 50-yards last year. In fact his lone miss from long distance was a 66-yard desperation try at the end of a half. Over his seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans, Bironas has made 86.3 percent of his field goal tries and has just five misses the past two seasons.

The kicker says he is leaving things in the hands of his agent, David Dunn, and the Titans to try and get something completed.

"It all comes down to my agent doing his job, and the Titans wanting to keep me." Bironas said, "They know I want to stay. They know I've got one more year on my deal, and they know we have to get something done before the season, because I don't want to focus on a contract or negotiations or whatever during the season. I want to concentrate on football."

Bironas says he is honoring his end of the deal by reporting to camp and playing out the final year of his deal.

"I'm here to play football. I signed a four-year deal. This is year four of that deal, and I'm honoring it." Bironas continued, "It's not like there is going to be a holdout or anything, I'm here to play ball."

The kicker had hoped something would have been done during the off-season, but no movement was made.

"I'm out of the contract at the end of the season, I won't be negotiating during the season and that's how I feel about it." Bironas said. "Unfortunately, it's a business. They understood that six months ago and they understand that now. We have four or five weeks before the season starts, so hopefully something gets done. If not, I'm going into the season looking at it as my final year, or they will have to compete with the free agent market."

The other possibility is that the Titans would slap Bironas with the franchise tag instead of a new contact. Many kickers around the league were franchised this past off-season, including Josh Scobee of Jacksonville, Matt Prater of Denver, Mike Nugent of Cincinnati and Phil Dawson of Cleveland.

"I've been here eight years." said Bironas, "I've committed my life to Nashville I've committed my playing experience to the Titans, I've committed to them. I've shown consistency over the years, and it would be called good faith if they would commit to me. But if they don't, and they want to give me a one-year deal, then they give me a one-year deal. It's all part of the business."

Moving on from the contract talk, Bironas says he misses his long-time long snapper Ken Amato, who was not re-signed after last year. Instead, rookie Beau Brinkley is handling the snapping duties.

"Amato was here for all seven of my years, and he was still snapping well up through last year,” Bironas said. “It's a tough change to accept. I don't really have any say so in it.

"Brinkley is doing all right. He's a good snapper, but I haven't seen him do anything under pressure or in game situations. I wish him the best, because he's the guy the staff wants. So I want to see him do well and do a good job.

"If it was up to me, I'd say put Brinkley on the practice squad for a year and let Amato finish out his 10th year. Let him get his decade in and get me through the final year of my contract, while letting Brinkley learn the speed of the game, just like they do with quarterbacks. Again, its not up to me. I just kind of sit back and let him do his thing and try to gain trust in who's back there doing it."