Owners are opting for non-running backs at the beginning of fantasy football drafts these days because the position tends to bust at a high rate. This is factual.

MyFantasyLeague.com), and grouped them into tiers of six. Why six? Well, this designates a high-end WR1 in a 12-team league, a low-end WR1, a high-end WR2, and so on.

I then compared the tiers to how the players within them finished the season. If a high-end WR1 finished with a rank between 1-12, he was a WR1. Had he finished with a rank of 13-24, he would have been a WR2. You get the idea.

Let’s first take a look at WR1 through WR24, or players you’d draft as starters in your league. Keep in mind that, according to FantasyFootballCalculator.com, the 24th wide receiver, Value Based Drafting (VBD). Coined by Joe Bryant way back in the day, the notion behind VBD is that "the value of a player is determined not by the number of points he scores, but by how much he outscores his peers at his particular position."

In a way, this same idea can be attributed to bust rates. While it appears the bust rate of an early-round running back (or wide receiver) is unfavorable, when you compare it to the rest of the position, it's not. In fact, it's incredibly favorable.

When you're drafting your fantasy football team, don't lose sight of the obvious. Pretend pigskin is driven by supply and demand, and it relates to odds-driven games like poker far more than people tend to realize. Bust rates are certainly not the end-all, but they can also help you see the greater picture in fantasy.