Preseason Player Power Rankings

Each week, I am going to offer power rankings for individual players. I will try to give at least the top 25 overall, but when time allows, I will try to include the top 10 at each position - quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end.

These will not be like the pre-draft rankings I did (QB and RB), since they will be based more on what has already happened then what I think will happen in the upcoming week.

The rankings will take into account the players' total points (TP), how they fared against other players at their position (DIFF %), and how they are expected to fare in their upcoming matchup (MR).

TP will stand for total points. That one is pretty self explanatory. During the season I will take into account their total points for the season, as well as the most recent week.

DIFF%, or differential percentage, will be the percentage of points the player scored above the average of the top 10 players at that position. For example, if the top 10 wide receivers averaged 10 points, and WR X scored 17 points, then his DIFF% would be 70. Players with the highest DIFF% will be the players who out-performed their peers with the greatest success.

It may be best to use Rob Gronkowski for an example of this, because, well, when you look at the numbers, no one player stood out more at his respective position. The averarge point total for the top 10 tight ends last season was 133.4 points, but Gronk shattered that with 233 points. That gives him a ridiculous DIFF% of 74.7, nearly 30 points higher than the next closest player (Ray Rice at 45.7%).

If you expand the sample, and take the average of the top 20 tight ends, then Gronk's DIFF% sky rockets to 115.9%. Pretty crazy. Friend of the blog Greg Boyce pointed out to me last night that even if you took away all of his touchdowns (17), Gronkowski would still have ranked second among tight ends, behind only Jimmy Graham.

MR, or matchup rating, will be based on how highly ESPN ranks a players upcoming opponent against that position. For example, if RB X is playing the Raiders next week, and they give up more points to wide receivers than any other team, then his MR would be 32.

I will look at these three numbers, for the most part, when ranking the players, but will also take other factors into accout, like injuries to other players, contract disputes (see Maurice Jones-Drew), or off-field distractions (see Dez Bryant).

Remember, these are not projections of I think will be the top scorer next week, but rather a look at who the top players are at any given moment.

Because the numbers aren't quite ready to be crunched yet, I used the total points from the 2011 season. Going forward, it will be a combination of total points for the season as well as points scored in the previous week.

Ok, I will stop now, and let you take a look for yourself...

Click here to take a look at yesterday's Waiver Wire Watch.

Matt Mullin is a sports producer at philly.com. You can reach him by e-mail at mmullin@philly.com. Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin