There’s no debate that wide receivers have taken over fantasy football. They are almost universally viewed as safer, more consistent, and more reliable from season to season and week to week. I am not here to tell you that’s not true. I believe it is. But even so, making sure you grab two running backs in the first three rounds might be the key to getting a leg up on your competition this season.

The purpose of this article is about draft theory and team composition. I will use specific players as examples to illustrate my point, but the players themselves are irrelevant – focus instead on what the players represent.

We are now in the heart of draft season. I’ve done more mocks than I can count from the front, the middle, and the back end. I’ve tried every strategy you can imagine and what I noticed was something unexpected: I always like my team most when I draft running backs early.

I often find when it’s my turn to pick, I have a receiver ranked as the best player on my board. Using the very common “best player available” (BPA) strategy, in theory, I should be selecting a receiver each time. But obviously, I have to draft running backs at some point, which means in a handful of rounds, I can’t select the best player available. This poses the all-important question: When is the right time to ignore the best player on my board and take a running back? The answer typically comes in Rounds 1-3.

In the WR-happy world of fantasy football, taking two running backs early is still a viable strategy.

After three rounds, I now have two running backs and one wide receiver. But in the fourth round, I now set my sights on Jordan Matthews, Eric Decker, or Jeremy Maclin, all of whom I project to either match or outscore Edelman, Cobb, and Thomas. Meanwhile, the running backs typically available in the fourth or fifth round, I project to score ranging from 10-12 fantasy points per game. I have now created value for myself by taking the running back early because the difference between a receiver in Round 3 and the receivers in Rounds 4-6 is less than the difference between my third-round RB and my top ranked running backs in Rounds 4-6.

Look at the composition of your team relative to the other owners. Let’s say the team picking at No.3 takes David Johnson and Latavius Murray in Round 3, leaving him with a receiver duo of Keenan Allen (Rd2) and Jeremy Maclin (Rd4). You pick at No.6 and go receiver heavy with A.J. Green and Amari Cooper, but your starting running backs are DeMarco Murray and Jonathan Stewart.

This is just one man’s analysis, but I’ve found that there are more receivers in the mid-late rounds that I’d feel comfortable with as flex players as opposed to running backs that I may have to start. The players may not be the same, but the theory holds true. The depth at the receiver position coupled with the scarcity of quality running backs makes drafting two running backs within your first three picks a viable strategy.

You may not like the same players as me and you may conclude that you just want to play it safe and stack up on WRs. That’s perfectly fine. But as the old cliché goes, sometimes you need to zig while everyone else zags. Before you draft for real this year, at least consider how you may be able to benefit from taking two running backs in the first three rounds.