After weeks of negotiations, the Tennessee Titans have filled one of their pressing needs.

The team reached an agreement in principle with free-agent safety Lance Schulters on Wednesday, inarguably one of the top players still available in the unrestricted pool.

The four-year veteran, who until this point had played his entire career in San Francisco, ostensibly replaces longtime Titans strong safety Blaine Bishop, who was released earlier in the free-agent period and subsequently signed with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Although there are still some details to be finalized, Schulters is expected to sign a five-year deal with a club option for the sixth season.

According to ESPN's John Clayton, Schulters will not receive a signing bonus this year. Instead he will make $1.5 million and receive a $1 million advance. Next year, the Titans hold an option clause that will pay him a $3.5 million signing bonus and an $800,000 base salary. He will make around $8.5 million over the first three years of the contract and $11.5 million over the first four years.

The total value of the contract, if the Titans exercise the option, is believed to be in the $20 million range.

"I'm very excited," coach Jeff Fisher said. "He's one of the guys we had targeted early, one of the guys we at least hoped we were going to be in the ball park. Initially, things took a turn for the worse there for a while. Then things took us in a better direction, and we got things put together."

Tennessee pursued Schulters for weeks, and the 49ers also were negotiating with him. San Francisco dropped out of bidding last week when it signed former Chicago Bears standout strong safety Tony Parrish to a five-year, $12.025 million contract.

There were times when the negotiations seemed to flag, but agent Brian Levy traveled to Nashville last week to meet with general manager Floyd Reese, and talks accelerated after that.

The Titans, who are attempting to totally revamp the safety position, are also in negotiations with former New York Jets safety Victor Green, also a free agent. A tandem of Schulters and Green would provide the Titans a solid interior secondary, one comprised of two big hitters with a nose for the ball.

Schulters, 26, is a superb player in run support and, with good range, has developed during his career as solid defender against the pass. He had six interceptions in 1999, when he was named to the Pro Bowl team.

The former Hofstra star, selected by the 49ers in the fourth round of the 1998 draft, is a three-year starter. For his career, he has 256 tackles, including a career-best 90 in 2000, nine interceptions, 23 passes defensed and 1 ½ sacks. He has played in 56 games and started 41 of them.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.