NFL fantasy player rater

The debate rages on about who is the best weapon in football. Is it the flashy quarterback who lofts deep touchdown passes or is it the dynamic backfield option that always seems to have the ball in his hands? For that matter, what about that receiver that always seems to be doing some type of end zone dance? In what follows we will attempt to answer the question of who is the most valuable fantasy player at each position in our weekly column dealing with the Player Rater Tool.

What is Player Rater tool you ask? It is an emotionless, statistically driven model that takes into account your leagues rules and tells you which players are performing at the highest level. For the sake of the analysis that follows, here are the "rules" that we will be using.

Four Points: Touchdown PassFour Points: Rushing or Receiving TouchdownOne Point: Per 25 Yards PassingOne Point: Per 10 Yards Rushing or ReceivingOne Point: Per ReceptionThree Points: Per Field GoalOne Point: Per Extra Point

Jay Cutler -- 104.5 points

Coming off his worst performance of the season, though he still tossed the pigskin for 227 yards and a touchdown without an interception against Tampa Bay.

Drew Brees -- 104.1 points

Brees is on pace to throw for 5,354 yards this season, which would shatter the all-time single season record of 5,084 yards set in 1984 by Dan Marino.

Aaron Rodgers -- 103.2 points

Battled through shoulder issues last week to throw for 313 yards and three scores, though he isn't out of the water yet as he is still bothered by his right wing.

Kurt Warner -- 99.5 points

Rebounded from a three-interception, three-fumble outing and talk of retirement to throw for 250 yards and two scores against Buffalo.

Tony Romo -- 99.4 points

Has thrown for six touchdowns the past two weeks though his interception streak is up to eight-straight games dating back to last season.

Philip Rivers -- 92.3 points

Has thrown for only 339 yards, two scores and two interceptions that past two weeks.

Brett Favre -- 86.7 points --

Favre leads the NFL with a 110.8 QB rating and 12 scores despite coming off a bye week.

J.T. O'Sullivan -- 80.5 points

After three scores and one interception in his first three outings, J.T. has totally turned around that performance with four scores and five interceptions the past two weeks.

Donovan McNabb -- 77.4 points

Over the last four games he has thrown only two interceptions but he has also only tossed three scores.

Kyle Orton -- 76.0 points

Lookie here, the Bears might have found a serviceable quarterback as Orton has thrown seven touchdowns the past three weeks.

Michael Turner -- 79.4 points

Turner leads the NFL with 543 rushing yards and is on pace to rush for 1,738 yards and 19 touchdowns in his first season as a starter.

Frank Gore -- 76.3 points

Gore is averaging about 121 yards a game, which puts him on pace for more than 1,900 yards from scrimmage if he continues to rumble at his current pace.

Clinton Portis -- 72.3 points

Portis is averaging 102.8 yards per game and has carried the ball at least 21 times in each of his five outings.

Matt Forte -- 71.5 points

Forte is second in the NFL with 107 caries, though he is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry, the lowest mark of the six rushers with at least 93 carries.

Marion Barber -- 70.1 points

Rebounded nicely after an eight carry effort in Week 4 with a 23 carry, 84 yards effort against the Bengals, though he has gone two weeks without an end zone dance.

Reggie Bush -- 65.3 points

Bush has 38 receptions, the next closes running back has 22 (Forte), and if your league counts special teams efforts then Bush has been amazing (he returned two punts for scores on Monday Night Football).

Ronnie Brown -- 63.8 points

Brown has rushed for 238 yards in his last two outings and has scored in three-straight games (six total touchdowns in that time).

Adrian Peterson -- 63.3 points

Though he has scored twice in the past three games, he has averaged just 63 yards a game on the ground.

Marshawn Lynch -- 58.1 points

Only has 32 carries the past two weeks that have produced just 112 yards (3.5 YPC).

LaDainian Tomlinson -- 57.1 points

Re-injured his toe in Week 5 and is currently averaging just 66.2 yards per game at an average of 3.7 yards per carry which would be his worst performance since his rookie season.

Greg Jennings -- 68.9 points

Leads the NFL with 569 receiving yards, 102 yards more than any other receiver.

Larry Fitzgerald -- 62.7 points

Fitzgerald is second in the league with 467 yards, and he is also second with 23 first downs (Brandon Marshall is first with 24).

Santana Moss -- 56.8 points

Moss is averaging 84.2 yards per game this season, a number he has bettered only once in his career with a 92.7 yard mark in '05.

Anquan Boldin -- 56.6 points

Has a sinus fracture that hinders his outlook somewhat moving forward. When on the field, he has been tremendous with five scores in his last three efforts.

Terrell Owens -- 55.0 points

He may not have a single 90-yard effort in five games, but he has scored in five games, making that a moot point.

Roddy White -- 53.6 points

Over the past three weeks White has scored twice on his 20 receptions, which have led to 341 yards.

Lee Evans -- 53.4 points

Over his past two games he has only four receptions but they have been mighty productive as he has racked up 188 yards and two scores.

Brandon Marshall -- 53.2 points

In his four games the yardage numbers have dipped in each effort (166, 155, 77 and 25).

Hines Ward -- 47.6 points

He isn't lighting up the yardage column with 316 yards in five games, but he has lit up the scoreboard with four touchdowns and 24 receptions.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- 47.1 points

Well off last years pace, T.J. has started to come on the past three weeks with three scores and 25 receptions.

Jason Witten -- 52.2 points

There is no doubt who the cream of the crop is at this position as Witten leads in receptions (35), yards (442) and first downs (23).

Tony Scheffler -- 33.9 points

Could fall down the list as there are worries that his groin injury could actually be a sports hernia that would require surgery. He is currently third at the position with 259 receiving yards.

Antonio Gates -- 33.7 points

Gates continues to be plagued by a bad hip that currently has him at fifth at the position in yards (217) and seventh in receptions (17).

Chris Cooley -- 32.8 points

Since the Week 1 debacle (one catch for seven yards), Cooley has averaged six receptions per game the past four weeks.

Anthony Fasano -- 27.7 points

Fasano has just 14 receptions and 197 yards in four games but ranks high on the list due to a rather depressed tight end group so far this season.

Tony Gonzalez -- 27.3 points

The Chiefs future HOFamer has gone four-straight games without eclipsing the 50-yard mark and has yet to have one game of 60.

Bo Scaife -- 26.6 points

Scaife has 20 receptions on the season, or one less than Zach Miller and Dallas Clark have -- combined.

Owen Daniels -- 23.8 points

Still without a score through four games but he has caught 16 receptions the past three times on the field.

Visanthe Shiancoe -- 22.5 points

Though he has only 12 receptions on the season, he has scored twice in the past three Vikings games.

Greg Olsen -- 22.1 points

Olsen has 13 receptions for 181 yards while Desmond Clark has nine receptions for 96 yards for the Bears.

Matt Prater -- 51 points

A horse so far in distance leagues as he is a perfect 4-for-4 on kicks of at least 50-yards.

John Carney -- 49 points

Perfect on the young season with 12-for-12 effort on field goals and 13-for-13 on extra points.

Ryan Longwell -- 47 points

Leads the NFL with 13 field goals on a league leading 15 attempts.

Jason Elam -- 45 points

After a 93.1 percent conversion rate in '06 followed up by a 87.1 percent mark last year, Elam has started the year perfect going 11-for-11.

Shaun Suisham -- 43 points

Suisham is 7-for-7 on field goal attempts the past two weeks including 3-for-3 on kick of over 40 yards (one was from 50).

John Kasay -- 42 points

Besides being 10-for-10 this season, Kasay has converted a kick between 40-49 yards in each of the Panthers five games.

Nate Kaeding -- 42 points

After scoring 12 points in Week 2 and Week 3, Nate has just 12 points the past two weeks.

Matt Bryant -- 42 points

How is this for odd? Though he is a perfect 10-for-10 on field goals he hasn't attempted a kick of longer than 37 yards.

David Akers -- 41 points

Akers has converted just three of his last six field goal attempts and nine of 12 on the year.

Joe Nedney -- 41 points

Nedney is 5-for-5 in the first half on field goals but just 5-for-7 after halftime.