McCourty excited Titans adding old rival Andre Johnson

Having played against him multiple times during his career, Titans cornerback Jason McCourty is looking forward to having wide receiver Andre Johnson on his team.

The Titans signed the 35 year-old Johnson, a 13-year veteran, to a two-year contract on Friday, one day before the team opens training-camp practice.

“Getting a chance to compete against him year-in and year-out, from my end, I have a ton of respect for what he’s been able to accomplish in the league and the way he approaches the game,” McCourty said. “I’ve always been a very big fan of his. I’m pretty excited, myself and a lot of the other guys, to get a guy like him in the locker room and be a part of this team.”

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Johnson has 1,053 career catches for 14,100 yards and 68 touchdowns. But his numbers took a big dip last season when he moved from Houston to Indianapolis, as Johnson caught just 41 catches for 503 yards.

McCourty didn’t play in either game last year against the Colts due to injury, but just from observation, he’s confident Johnson can still make an impact on the field.

“I think he can still help and I think that’s the reason (Titans general manager) Jon Robinson signed him,” McCourty said. “As an organization, we still obviously believe that he can get it done on Sundays and make plays.

“I think for us as players, we all realize as we get to the end of our career, we’re maybe not as fast or quick. But what we might lose in that, we kind of gain in experience and anticipation. So I think he’ll still be able to help this team, not only in a leadership role but as a quality wide receiver on the field.”

McCourty said he might share a chuckle with Johnson in regards to Johnson’s legendary 2010 brawl with former Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan. Both players were ejected from the game.

“That should be interesting,” McCourty said with a laugh. “I’m still really close to Cortland. So I’ll ask Cortland if he wants me to talk to Andre when he first gets in and make sure everything is cool and in the past.”

What does McCourty recall of that incident?

“Chaos,” McCourty said. “I remember making a tackle short of a first down on third down. But the (Houston) crowd was cheering, so you get up and say, `What is the crowd cheering about?’ Then seeing everyone piled up and the whole nine yards, it was utter chaos.”

Reach John Glennon at jglennon@tennessean.com and on Twitter @glennonsports.