Owners beware: Fantasy-team killers

If you're like me, you drafted your fantasy football team before the preseason and bit early on Sidney Rice and Donnie Avery.

My bad.

For late-drafters, here's a list of eight players to be wary of before you bite high.

1. Vincent Jackson — A contract holdout for San Diego's No. 1-wide receiver isn't going well, and he's comfortable with sitting out the season. I don't imagine it will go that far, but he is certainly not worth the third- or fourth-round pick he was worth three months ago.

2. Darrelle Revis  — The New York Jets' defense isn't nearly as much the unanimous No.1 defense/special teams without Revis. With Revis's contract holdout, his replacement is Antonio Cromartie, one of the most overrated defensive players in the NFL, fueled only by one season of acrobatic interceptions.

3. Thomas Jones — Despite being "over the hill" for the past three seasons, Jones — now a Kansas City Chief — is in prime position to steal touchdowns from Jamaal Charles. Charles, who has the talent to be a second-round pick, might fall to the third and rob you of a solid No. 1 RB because of Jones's TD-hawking.

4. Brett Favre — There has to be — has to be — a year that Favre starts to decline. Even after his amazing 2009, he's coming off surgery and is almost 40 years old. If this is the year Favre starts looking like, ya know, a normal human being, Percy Harvin and Visanthe Shiancoe are going to be staring down passes from Tavaris Jackson, and we all know what that means.

5. Ladainian Tomlinson — If you're lucky, LT will just be a figurehead for the Jets: kind of like what Bobby Bowden has been to FSU the past few years. If you're unlucky, Rex Ryan will take away red-zone carries from the more productive Shonn Greene — one of the only reasons why it's a reach to take Greene in the first round.

6. Kevin Smith — Hate to pick on 24K, but it's difficult to take rookie Jahvid Best, who is expected to be a more complete and productive back than Smith, when the coaching staff is sticking with Kevin — despite a suspect return from a torn ACL. Considering other players' returns from ACL injuries, speed is diminished, and Smith wasn't the fastest guy on the field as it was. It's not likely he's the Lions' long-term starter, but he'll still start enough games to make Best a risky high-end pick.

7. Tim Tebow — He's impressed in preseason and apparently changed his mechanics for the better. There's going to be a quick hook for starter Kyle Orton if the Broncos fall out of the race early. Brady Quinn isn't a legitimate threat on the depth chart, so at the very least, a Mr. Irrelevant pick for Tebow won't hurt.

8. Terrell Owens — There are three potential No. 1 receivers on the Cincinnati squad: Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Antonio Bryant. Before T.O. announced his signing with the Bengals, Ochocinco and Bryant  were solid fantasy pickups. Now, Ochocinco's point per reception value is way down, Bryant may not even be a consistent starter, and no one has any idea what roles Jermaine Gresham and Jordan Shipley will play. It's best to stay away from relying too heavily on any of the targets in Cinci's offense. After all, they're still a run-first team.