NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Dont'a Hightower is from Lewisburg, Tennessee, about 57 miles from here.

With a picture he posted on Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, he told us he was in downtown Music City.

Free-agent-to-be Dont'a Hightower posted this picture, seemingly from a balcony in downtown Nashville, on Instagram on Wednesday. Dont'a Hightower/Instagram

The photo appears to be from a balcony on downtown Broadway not far from Bridgestone Arena, across the street from the most popular honky-tonks. The Renaissance Nashville Hotel skyscraper is in the background.

It matches up to a Google image from the balcony of Honky Tonk Central but shows the current setup on the street that's connected to the SEC basketball tournament, which started Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena.

The photo also included the caption "NashVegas."

It's probably not unusual for the linebacker, who spent his first five NFL seasons with the New England Patriots, to be in such a spot on a pretty spring offseason afternoon.

When that afternoon is the one before the afternoon when NFL free agency officially starts, and when his contract is about to expire and put him on the market, and when the Tennessee Titans have the money to afford him and the need for a player like him ... well, it's hard not to wonder.

I don't seek to start rumors. Hightower doesn't need to be in the city of the team he signs with if he, in fact, inks a quick contract Thursday. Him being in Nashville on Wednesday assures nothing about what will unfold for him Thursday.

But less than 24 hours before the start of the NFL's new league year, the Pro Bowler and two-time Super Bowl champ was in range of the Titans, at least geographically.