Romo, Barber keep starring for surging Cowboys

	Tony Romo has quickly become a fantasy star with five great starts. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

By Craig Davis, Special to SI.com, FantasyFootball.com

Fantasy football is about value. Value in your draft, value in a trade, value in free agency/waiver wire. The team that can maximize its value in those three areas gives itself the best chance to win at the end of the season.

Therefore, we feel it necessary to track the value of the movers and shakers on the offensive side of the ball each week. I'm going to use their average auction dollar value as a guide to determine how many "dollars" they increase, or decrease, in value. Also keep in mind that a player's value will increase (or decrease) more than usual if he puts together a string of solid (or putrid) performances.

Quarterbacks

Stock on the Rise

Joey Harrington, Miami (Preseason Value: $1.00; Previous Value $2.50; Current Value $5.00): Over his last four games, Harrington has only one game under 200 yards passing and has twice thrown three TDs. He's obviously not at QB1 status yet, but should you be the unfortunate owner of Donovan McNabb and Harrington is available, I don't see many better options at this point.

Carson Palmer, Cincinnati ($19.79; $22.60; $25.90): With Donovan McNabb done for the season, Palmer could be the second-best fantasy QB the final five weeks of the season. I've seen enough to believe his knee is no longer going to be a problem. If you watch Palmer, he seems more confident with his offensive line giving him the protection he needs to look downfield to his weapons. Palmer's clicking and, despite his rough upcoming schedule, promises to be a solid option for your fantasy playoffs.

Tony Romo, Dallas ($1.00; $7.50; $15.00): In five starts, Romo has only one fantasy performance that he'd like to forget (Week 11 vs. Indy). Aside from that (which wasn't all that bad), Romo has been spot on and could easily be a top-five fantasy QB the rest of the way. Bill Parcells is calling plays that have really fit Romo's abilities and the entire offense has been flourishing since. Five TDs and over 300 yards have not been matched by any QB in the NFL this season. With games remaining against the Giants, Saints, Lions, Falcons and Eagles, Romo could easily finish the year with 2,800 yards and 23 TDs. Those numbers are staggering if you look at the total number of games he's played.

Drew Brees, New Orleans ($6.94; $17.90; $22.75): Brees is doing everything he can to keep pace with Palmer and stay ahead of Romo. He didn't disappoint Sunday, tossing two more TD passes and adding nearly 350 yards through the air against a Falcons' fantasy pass defense ranked 16th coming into the game. Brees' schedule the rest of the way is intriguing for fantasy owners, facing the Niners, Cowboys, Redskins, Giants and Panthers over the next five weeks. Brees leads the league in passing yardage and, unless he completely melts down, should win that going away.

Vince Young, Tennessee ($1.00; $2.00; $3.50): I'm not going to comment much here, only because he has to prove it for more than one week. I was impressed with his running (10-69-1) as I always am, and the passing game appears to be headed in the right direction. For the first time this season, Young was not picked off, an accomplishment in itself. Add to that the yardage (249) and touchdowns (two) and you have the first "breakout" performance of his young career.

Stock on the Decline

Jake Plummer, Denver ($7.03; $5.00; $1.00): Mike Shanahan has benched Plummer in favor of rookie Jay Cutler in hopes of giving the offense a spark. With a plethora of weapons in the Denver backfield and Javon Walker's ability to out-jump just about anyone, there's no reason the Broncos aren't averaging more points per game.

Eli Manning, NY Giants ($20.03; $16.95; $10.90): He's on quite a streak lately, throwing for fewer than 200 yards in seven of his last eight games and failing to throw for more than two TDs in the last two months. Manning threw two costly INTs to Pacman Jones in Sunday's loss to Tennessee, finishing with only one TD and 143 yards passing. Why aren't the Giants throwing the ball more to Jeremy Shockey now that Amani Toomer is on the shelf?

Rex Grossman, Chicago ($1.00; $11.00; $8.50): Grossman has quietly slipped down from the top five to near the bottom of QB1s, and is in danger of falling to QB2 status. That's still an upgrade over where he was drafted (or picked up in free agency), but hardly every-week starter status. Grossman was picked off three times by the Patriots on Sunday and now has 18 TDs vs. 14 INTs on the season. Hard to get excited about those numbers if I was relying on him every week.