Over the past few years, I've been slowly coming around to streaming as a strategy. Started off doing it with defense, and then, after completely blowing my QB pick a couple years ago on Peyton in his last year, I stumbled into streaming QBs as well. It's becoming an increasingly important part of fantasy (JJ Zachariason has built an entire brand around it), but outside of streaming D threads, I've seen very little discussion of it in this forum.
Here's my (still evolving) strategy around streaming the non RB-WR positions. I'm not claiming this is what everyone should do, just what has (and hasn't) worked for me. YMMV:
QB -- the No. 1 rule of streaming QBs is that you don't want to stream QBs. Which is to say, when I draft a late-round QB, my goal is to find this year's Matt Ryan, a guy who I can pick up on the cheap and will turn into an every-week starter. It's only after I know that I've whiffed on that strategy that I start looking into streaming, or at least supplementing (last year, I drafted Winston late. He was OK, but when Mariota popped up on the WW I grabbed him and paired the two of them ROS.)
One thing I've noticed streaming QBs is that it's not that much harder in deep leagues than it is in shallow ones (my two main leagues are 14 and 16 teams). I think that's because most teams go all in on their QB in the draft and then aren't really thinking about it once the season is underway. Also, while the high-profile mediocrities like Eli and Flacco are generally wasting away on teams' benches, the no-names that emerge unexpectedly (Cousins and Tyrod a couple years ago, Hoyer every year) are frequently available. What makes streaming harder is not the total number of teams in your league, but the number of other owners who are also streaming. That's when you have to start being proactive and picking guys up a couple weeks in advance.
TE -- I've dabbled in this (especially a few years ago when I lost Gronk right at the beginning of my playoffs), but this is actually my least favorite position to stream. It's less because of its effectiveness as because of the mental energy it requires. We play fantasy to have fun, and I'm sorry, but trying to divine whether Will Tye or Crockett Gilmore is poised to have a good game is not fun, especially since it's almost impossible to predict what a replacement-level TE will do. I don't like reaching for a Gronk/Reed/Kelce too early, but I've reached a place where I'm Zen about taking a mid-tier TE and being happy with my 60/600/6. Life's short, and I'd rather spend it on things that don't make me want to tear out what's left of my hair.
DST -- The OG of streaming. The basic principles are the same as QB, especially the part about not reaching too early in the draft, but results across the board are far less predictable. My draft strategy is to ignore the high-profile guys and instead try to identify this year's breakout candidates (new DCs with a history of quick turnarounds is a good criterion). If I'm feeling particularly confident, I might reach one round early MAX (ie, the third-to-last round instead of the next-to-last). If my BOCs are all gone, I just go for a good Week 1 matchup and I'm off to the streaming races.
K -- another position where it's not worth the mental energy required to predict performances. I pick whoever for the first couple weeks, then drop him for the highest-scoring kicker still on the waiver wire. Then I repeat that every few weeks for the rest of the season. I give a teeny bit of weight to whether they play in a dome or have a prolific offense, but I try not to overthink it. I also try to look for high-scoring kickers who get dropped on their bye weeks. If I have a scrub on the end of my bench, I'll grab the K a week early and wait it out. That strategy helped me get Bryant last year.
What has everyone else found works for them?
Here's my (still evolving) strategy around streaming the non RB-WR positions. I'm not claiming this is what everyone should do, just what has (and hasn't) worked for me. YMMV:
QB -- the No. 1 rule of streaming QBs is that you don't want to stream QBs. Which is to say, when I draft a late-round QB, my goal is to find this year's Matt Ryan, a guy who I can pick up on the cheap and will turn into an every-week starter. It's only after I know that I've whiffed on that strategy that I start looking into streaming, or at least supplementing (last year, I drafted Winston late. He was OK, but when Mariota popped up on the WW I grabbed him and paired the two of them ROS.)
One thing I've noticed streaming QBs is that it's not that much harder in deep leagues than it is in shallow ones (my two main leagues are 14 and 16 teams). I think that's because most teams go all in on their QB in the draft and then aren't really thinking about it once the season is underway. Also, while the high-profile mediocrities like Eli and Flacco are generally wasting away on teams' benches, the no-names that emerge unexpectedly (Cousins and Tyrod a couple years ago, Hoyer every year) are frequently available. What makes streaming harder is not the total number of teams in your league, but the number of other owners who are also streaming. That's when you have to start being proactive and picking guys up a couple weeks in advance.
TE -- I've dabbled in this (especially a few years ago when I lost Gronk right at the beginning of my playoffs), but this is actually my least favorite position to stream. It's less because of its effectiveness as because of the mental energy it requires. We play fantasy to have fun, and I'm sorry, but trying to divine whether Will Tye or Crockett Gilmore is poised to have a good game is not fun, especially since it's almost impossible to predict what a replacement-level TE will do. I don't like reaching for a Gronk/Reed/Kelce too early, but I've reached a place where I'm Zen about taking a mid-tier TE and being happy with my 60/600/6. Life's short, and I'd rather spend it on things that don't make me want to tear out what's left of my hair.
DST -- The OG of streaming. The basic principles are the same as QB, especially the part about not reaching too early in the draft, but results across the board are far less predictable. My draft strategy is to ignore the high-profile guys and instead try to identify this year's breakout candidates (new DCs with a history of quick turnarounds is a good criterion). If I'm feeling particularly confident, I might reach one round early MAX (ie, the third-to-last round instead of the next-to-last). If my BOCs are all gone, I just go for a good Week 1 matchup and I'm off to the streaming races.
K -- another position where it's not worth the mental energy required to predict performances. I pick whoever for the first couple weeks, then drop him for the highest-scoring kicker still on the waiver wire. Then I repeat that every few weeks for the rest of the season. I give a teeny bit of weight to whether they play in a dome or have a prolific offense, but I try not to overthink it. I also try to look for high-scoring kickers who get dropped on their bye weeks. If I have a scrub on the end of my bench, I'll grab the K a week early and wait it out. That strategy helped me get Bryant last year.
What has everyone else found works for them?
