NFL Player Rater: The Top Guns

The debate rages on about who is the best weapon in football. Is it the flashy quarterback who lofts deep touchdown passes or the dynamic backfield option who always seems to have the ball in his hands? For that matter, what about that receiver who 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 league's 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 pass

Four Points: Rushing or receiving touchdown

One Point: Per 25 yards passing

One Point: Per 10 yards rushing or receiving

Three Points: Per field goal

One Point: Per extra point

You can click on the following link to find the actual Player Rater Tool if you want to input your own league's scoring system.

188.1 points- Jay Cutler

The past two weeks have witnessed Cutler throw five touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 48 passes.

187.7 points- Drew Brees

Brees is averaging 332 yards per contest, and in nine games this year he has been unable to throw for at least 320 yards just twice.

186.7 points - Kurt Warner

Steady as she goes for Warner, who has thrown for at least 250 yards in five of his past six games with at least two scores in eight consecutive outings.

178.9 points- Philip Rivers

In four straight games, he has thrown for at least two touchdowns, and two TDs or more in seven of nine games overall.

161.5 points - Aaron Rodgers

Rodgers has slowed the past three weeks, tossing just two touchdowns while averaging 214 yards per outing.

159.5 points - Donovan McNabb

In three of the past four weeks, he has thrown for at least 250 yards, and though he has two interceptions the past two weeks, he also has five touchdowns.

155.7 points- Peyton Manning

Manning has thrown for at least 215 yards in each of his nine games, and over the past three weeks has tossed seven touchdowns.

144.6 points - Brett Favre

In the past two games, both Jets victories, Favre has thrown for just one touchdown and 368 yards.

137.9 points - Eli Manning

He's thrown for a score in eight straight games, and during that time has 14 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

135.8 points - David Garrard

The Jags QB has improved his play the past four games, throwing for an average of 256.5 yards with five scores and just one interception.

142.5 points - Clinton Portis

Portis was held to just 51 yards in Week 9 because of a knee injury, and as a result has fallen to second in the league in rushing yards (995).

139.3 points - Adrian Peterson

The NFL's new rushing leader (1,015 yards) is on pace to eclipse 1,800. He has also scored four rushing touchdowns during the past three weeks.

127.5 points - Matt Forte

He just keeps pounding the ball into the line with four straight 20-carry efforts and 20-plus carries in seven of nine games overall.

124.5 points - Frank Gore

Gore has rushed for at least 90 yards in three of his past four games despite carrying the ball 20 times only once.

121.4 points - Thomas Jones

After just one score last season, Jones has gone wild of late with five in his last three games, not to mention topping 145 yards in two of his past four outings.

120.9 points -- Marion Barber

For all the preseason hype about a breakout performance, Barber ranks just 12th in the NFL with a 73.9 yards per game mark.

119.7 points -- Brandon Jacobs

With three scores the past two weeks and five in the past four, Jacobs has tied his career-high of nine rushing touchdowns.

118.1 points -- Michael Turner

Turner has been a horse the past two weeks with 58 carries for 235 yards and a touchdown.

114.2 points -- Chris Johnson

Lost his touchdown streak at three games with by far the worst effort of his young career (14 carries for eight yards against the Bears).

108.3 points -- LaDainian Tomlinson

We are up to five weeks and counting without a rushing touchdown for the "best" running back in football. In three of those games, he hasn't even rushed for 75 yards.

106.3 points -- Anquan Boldin

Of his 10 touchdowns this season nine have come in the red zone as the man is almost impossible to bring down on first contact.

104.5 points -- Roddy White

Over his last seven games, White has scored six times while hauling in 47 passes for 688 yards.

103.1 points -- Larry Fitzgerald

Though he has scored only twice in the past four games, Fitzgerald has still been steady-as-she-goes with 26 receptions for 324 yards.

102.0 points -- Andre Johnson

Johnson leads all receivers with 900 yards for an even 100 yards-per-game average, which also happens to the be the best mark in the NFL.

101.3 points -- Calvin Johnson

He has gone over 85 yards in four of the past five weeks during which time he has reached the end zone four times.

96.1 points -- Greg Jennings

Amongst all receivers with at least 40-receptions (he has 43), Jennings leads the way with a 18.6 yards per reception average.

90.0 points -- Reggie Wayne

After doing his best Criss Angel impression for three weeks (he vanished to the tune of 10 receptions for 115 yards), Wayne came back with a vengeance in Week 10 with six receptions, 114 yards and a score.

89.9 points -- Santana Moss

In two of his past four games, he has been held to two receptions and less than 25 yards.

87.0 points -- Brandon Marshall

Marshall has only one receiving touchdown in five weeks and hasn't had a 100-yard outing in seven weeks.

84.2 points -- Lee Evans

Evans has been a shrinking violet the past two weeks with a total of six receptions for 63 yards.

74.4 points -- Tony Gonzalez

There hasn't been a more productive tight end the past four weeks as Tony G. has averaged seven receptions, 88 yards and 0.75 scores per week in that stretch.

70.9 points -- Antonio Gates

Gates has finally played like, well, Gates the past two weeks with 14 receptions for 162 yards and two touchdowns.

62.9 points -- Jason Witten

Witten (ribs) is hopeful of returning to full duty this coming weekend. Even after just eight yards receiving in his last game, he still leads all tight ends in yardage (549).

62.1 points -- Owen Daniels

How does a guy catch 11 passes for 133 yards one week and follow that up with one grab for 13?

56.9 points -- Chris Cooley

The NFC positional leader with 48 receptions, he has 25 for 264 yards in the first half and 23 for 265 yards in the second half.

53.5 points -- Dallas Clark

Clark has three scores in three weeks and 22 receptions in the last four tilts.

50.2 points -- Bo Scaife

Clearly on his way to being the breakout performer at the position, Scaife needs only four receptions the rest of the season to tie his career-high mark of 46.

48.2 points -- Kellen Winslow Jr.

He caught 10 balls for 111 yards and two scores with Brady Quinn at the helm, numbers that were better than his combined effort in his previous two games (seven receptions, 81 yards, zero scores).

43.1 points -- Tony Scheffler

He returned to the party in style with four receptions for 92 yards in Week 10, giving him at least four grabs in three of his last four games.

42.6 points -- Greg Olsen

The Bears like to utilize him early, as he has over 41% of his receptions in the first quarter (12 of 29).

90 points -- John Carney

There continue to be rumors that the Giants could turn to Lawrence Tynes, but would you remove a guy from the lineup who leads all kickers in points, thanks to hitting 21 of 22 field goals?

87 points -- David Akers

Akers is perfect on kicks of less than 40-yards (17-for-17).

80 points -- Stephen Gostkowski

The Pats kicker has recorded at least eight points in four straight contests, at an average of 9.75 points.

79 points -- Jason Elam

He's missed two of 21 kicks and is 9-for-10 at over 40-yards.

78 points -- Matt Bryant

Still perfect on the short stuff, Bryant is 20-for-23 overall thanks to missing three kicks over 40-yards.

76 points -- Nate Kaeding

Over the past three games, he has attempted five field goals, though none of the five conversions have been longer than 34 yards.

75 points -- Mason Crosby

With the weather turning frigid, it should be noted that Crosby is just 13-for-22 (59.1%) when kicking at temperatures below 60 degrees.

74 points -- Rob Bironas

After a stretch of three straigjht outings with at least 10 points, Bironas was held to just three PATs in Week 10.

73 points -- Joe Nedney

With many 49ers drives stalling, Nedney has been held fieldgoalless (there is no way that is a word) just once in nine games.