The agreement, announced Wednesday evening by club officials, culminates a month that even by Pickens' standards was nothing shy of mind-boggling. During the past three weeks alone he retained two different agents; finally gained his much-anticipated release from the Cincinnati Bengals; flirted in free agency with a half-dozen teams; then ended up representing himself in negotiations with the Titans, the team favored to land him when he was cut last Thursday.

A man who is not easily satisfied and whose tantrums in Cincinnati were legendary, Pickens the player was apparently pretty pleased with the bargaining skills of Pickens the agent. Pickens met one-on-one with general manager Floyd Reese on Wednesday in Nashville, the player having been cut loose one day earlier by agent Hadley Engelhard, and closed the deal.

Carl Pickens gives the Titans a needed big-play threat at wide receiver.(Allsport)

His only guidance came from prominent Los Angeles-based agent Marvin Demoff, who declined to become Pickens' third agent in three weeks but agreed to review the contract for him.

"From the first day (of his freedom from Cincinnati), I pretty much knew this is where I wanted to be," Pickens said on Wednesday evening. "It just took a while to come together, that's all. But who wouldn't want to be with a team that went to the Super Bowl last year and is capable of going back again? This is a team I can help get better and one that can help me be a better player."

The complete breakdown of the contract, obtained exclusively by SportsLine.com, reveals that it is actually a one-year deal which will cost the Titans steep annual roster bonuses to retain Pickens after the 2000 season.

The eight-year veteran will receive a $500,000 signing bonus and a 2000 base salary of $500,000. To keep Pickens for 2001, the Titans must pay him a $4.5 million roster bonus in early March and his base salary for that year is $1 million. Pickens will receive $500,000 of his 2001 base salary this year as an advance, bringing his total compensation for 2000 to $1.5 million.

The remaining base salaries are $3 million for 2002, with $500,000 of that fully guaranteed, $3.5 million for 2003 and $4 million for 2004. There are roster bonuses, payable in early March, of $1 million each 2002-2004.

Pickens will not accompany his new Titans teammates for three days of joint practices with St. Louis at the Rams' training camp in Macomb, Ill. He is expected to report to the team Sunday or Monday and will be on the field early next week.

"For us to acquire a player of this caliber at this point in time, with everyone in camp, is a real (coup)," Reese said. "A player like Carl, a Pro Bowl-caliber receiver, just isn't supposed to come available like this. But when he did, we knew we had to try to get him."

The Titans are concerned that often-injured wide receiver Yancey Thigpen has been slow to recover from April surgery on his left ankle.

SportsLine.com reported late Tuesday that only a few strokes of the pen separated Pickens and a five-year contract with the Titans, after the wide receiver and Reese had reached agreement on all of the principle financial elements of the contract.

Earlier this month, Pickens dismissed longtime agent Steve Zucker, who represented him during his entire eight-year tenure with the Bengals. He then retained the Atlanta-based Engelhard, but became disenchanted when the offers he received from early suitors didn't meet his demands. So on Saturday, without informing Engelhard, he began phoning Demoff for counsel.

Over a four-day stretch, with Pickens phoning daily, Demoff declined to add the wide receiver to his sterling client list but finally agreed to serve as a sounding board. At mid-afternoon Tuesday, weary of his client's behind-the-scenes maneuvers, Engelhard phoned Pickens to apprise the former Bengals star he would no longer represent him.

A personnel director from one of the teams that considered signing Pickens before backing off, told SportsLine.com the player's latest caper with his agents was just the kind of behavior that led his club to cool on the talented but temperamental wide receiver.

As recently as Monday night, Engelhard had been negotiating with Reese on Pickens' behalf. Engelhard has steadfastly to comment on developments.

A late suitor for Pickens was Baltimore, where given the continuing holdout of first-round wide receiver Travis Taylor, personnel director Ozzie Newsome was prepared to offer a one-year deal for about $1.5 million. The New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets had also inquired about Pickens earlier this week but none made a formal contract proposal.

Contrary to published reports, the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots demonstrated no interest in Pickens during his week of freedom.

Pickens starred collegiately at the University of Tennessee and remains a very high profile athlete in the state. In addition, he makes his offseason home in Atlanta, a relatively short drive from Nashville. His tenure in Cincinnati was marked by controversy and acrimony and the only thing that kept him on the Bengals roster during the spring was a grievance filed against the club by the NFL Players Association over the use of the franchise label on the wideout.

As early as June, SportsLine.com reported several Titans players were lobbying Reese to pursue Pickens if he became available. Tailback Eddie George said that acquiring Pickens "definitely" would benefit the Titans in their quest to return to the Super Bowl.

In Pickens' eight years in Cincinnati, he had 530 receptions for 6,887 yards and 63 touchdowns. The former Tennessee star was the team's second-round pick in 1992 played in 120 games and started 110 of them.