FanHouse KellenWinslow

When one prepares to draft a fantasy football team, myriad criterion should be considered in evaluating who to target, and, likewise, who to avoid. One word bouncing around just as frequently as anything else during said evaluation? Injury. Maybe a guy was injured for several games last season, maybe he suffered a season-ending injury or maybe he's just an injury-prone guy. This affects the value of players on draft day.

Let's check out the value of 10 guys with injury concerns, and judge whether or not they are up to the task for 2009.

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Houston Texans tight end Owen Daniels joined cornerback Dunta Robinson in skipping out of voluntary OTAs as a contract holdout. His Facebook page explains:

"Decided not to show up for practice because of my contract situation. I would much rather bet there, but I'm not getting the fairness I was hoping for on the business end of things. I really hope we can agree on something soon."

Actually, it was somewhat surprising that he attended all the OTAs without a new contract given that he risked injury by doing so. Negotiating an extension for Daniels is difficult because of the absurd money that Tampa Bay gave Kellen Winslow.

Perhaps the best way to ease a young NFL quarterback into the starting job is to surround him with playmakers, the support of a suffocating defense, or both. That way, he's seldom in the position of having to win a game, but has the benefit of gaining experience.

The strategy worked for the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004, and the Ravens and Joe Flacco and the Falcons and Matt Ryan last season. Pittsburgh was 15-1, Baltimore and Atlanta were 11-5. It helps to have most of the pieces in place before handing over the offense to a young QB, but it's not mandatory; the Ravens won five times the year before Flacco arrived, and the Falcons won four.

After five sometimes-tumultuous years in Cleveland, the Browns traded Kellen Winslow to the Buccaneers this offseason. It was an opportunity for the tight end to get a fresh start, a new beginning, a rebirth ... any cliche works here, really. Except that, on Tuesday, Winslow missed the start of organized team activities (OTAs) with his new club.

In general, it's hardly a big deal; OTAs aren't mandatory and while it's good for team-building and whatnot, veterans don't get much out of the experience. At least those not learning a new system. That wasn't the case for Winslow, and it might explain why former Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp took exception to Winslow's decision to skip out on voluntary workouts:

Tampa Bay has traded tight end Alex Smith to New England for an undisclosed draft pick in the 2010 draft. The Bucs had reportedly been looking to unload Smith ever since acquiring Kellen Winslow from the Browns at the end of February.

The Patriots weren't exactly bare at the tight end position before this move either. The Pats return Benjamin Watson and David Thomas, their two starters from last year, and signed former Jet Chris Baker to a free-agent deal.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers think they finally have a franchise quarterback, in Kansas State's Josh Freeman. They very well might, but that doesn't make him a good fantasy football option for this coming season. In fact, I don't think he should be drafted in any league as of right now.

The Bucs currently have Byron Leftwich, who will probably be starting this season, while the rookie is brought along, a la Carson Palmer waiting behind Jon Kitna in Cincinnati. It's possible for the Bucs to cut Leftwich -- since they didn't give him a signing bonus it wouldn't cost them any money -- but most in the know believe Freeman's not ready to immediately come in and start.

According to a published report, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards will be a member of the New York Giants before the NFL Draft -- which begins April 25.

Despite having a new Browns coaching staff in place, the old quarterback controversy between Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn lingers like an unwanted party guest. Really, everything would have been easier if Anderson didn't light up the scoreboard for a handful of games in 2007. Then they could have made the transition to Quinn.

Everyone's favorite soldiah, Kellen Winslow, is now the NFL's highest paid tight end of all-time -- but he plays for Tampa Bay, not Cleveland anymore. Regardless, he discussed the Browns' offense on Sirius NFL and he seems to agree Quinn is the way to go.

Kellen Winslow signed a six-year extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers recently. When we first discussed the signing, the contract numbers hadn't been released. Now they have. And they're sort of insane.

Winslow is getting $36.1 million(!) over the six years, with an astounding $20.1 million of that guaranteed, and apparently, up to $42.1 million available through incentives. That's a whole lot of cash, folks, and it will make him -- at least temporarily -- the highest-paid tight end in NFL history.

Since the days of Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar, Cleveland Browns fans have seemingly had a love-hate relationship with their starting quarterbacks ... and by "love-hate," I obviously mean they love to hate them. After suffering an Aaron Rodgers-like slide on draft day, 2007, Brady Quinn was supposed to change all of that and become the franchise quarterback Dawg Pounders have longed for since, well, Otto Graham.

On Tuesday, new head coach Eric Mangini made the announcement that Quinn will be competing for the starting job in 2009 with five-year veteran Derek Anderson.