WitP: Mouton, Veikune, Ulbrich

Though he lost his kick and punt returning jobs, Ryan Mouton may see a lot of playing time on the Titans' defense this Sunday.

Two Titans rookies could play significant roles in the secondary during Sunday's game against the Jaguars.

Cornerback Cortland Finnegan (hamstring) missed practice Wednesday and nickelback Vincent Fuller (forearm) is out 4-6 weeks after having surgery.

That left extra work with the first team for rookies Jason McCourty and Ryan Mouton.

Coach Jeff Fisher said he's confident in both players. As for which one might start if Finnegan can't play, Fisher said: "That's a surprise."

Both figure to see playing time, however.

Mouton worked behind Fuller during the preseason and replaced him when Fuller broke his forearm in the first quarter against the Jets last Sunday. McCourty replaced Finnegan when he exited in the second half.

ClevelandBrowns.com has an article about the increasing Polynesian presence in the NFL. There's a few quotes from David Veikune:

As the popularity of the NFL increases around the world, the diverse pool of players contributing to the game continues to expand.

When the Browns drafted linebackers David Veikune (52nd overall) and Kaluka Maiava (104th) in the second and fourth rounds respectively, they welcomed two new Pacific Islanders into the NFL.

"Polynesians, they're pretty strong, very powerful, physical people," Veikune said. "The NFL's a very physical game, so I think they put two and two together and started recruiting over there."

And it looks like Jeff Ulbrich should be good to go this weekend.

Left tackle Joe Staley (thigh), left guard David Baas (ankle) and linebacker Jeff Ulbrich (thigh) saw limited practice Thursday, but each is expected to be available for Sunday's game.