RB early is the new upside down?

[Big Country]

So much of this depends on lineup requirements and league setup (best ball or not).

 

 

If you only need to start 1 RB, it is much easier to get by with waiting and hoping to stream a hot hand at the spot, filling the flex (if there is one) with higher potential WRs. But if you need to start 2 RBs, it is a lot riskier attempting to find 2 RBs to stream each week.

 

If you need to start 3 WRs, then there is more need/desire to get WRs a little earlier, so it's easier to follow the trend of going WR heavy early and having good success.

 

 

In best ball, as noted above, it is even easier to wait on a position as you don't have to make the lineup decision, so going RB very late even, with two required starters has more potential for success if you do a good job loading up on upside RBs in the mid to later rounds - guys that may get some work put are an injury away from a primary role, the pass catching piece of a committee (if PPR scoring) that has that potential for a 6-8 catch game or the home run hitter that can break off the 60 yard TD every few games. When you take out the need to guess which one to start each week, the value of players like that go up exponentially as you essentially get all of the upside with none of the downside.