Franklin is pretty awesome - can't go wrong doing what he does. After watching his videos, I just use salt and pepper now. No binder - it sticks to the meat, no worries. If you can put it on and put it in the fridge for a bit before cooking, great. In my experience, I haven't noticed a huge difference between putting the rub on and letting it sit overnight versus putting the rub on and putting it right on the smoker. But that may just be me.

Have you seen the video where Franklin did three briskets - one with a foil wrap, one with a paper wrap, and one with no wrap? Interesting to see the results.

I usually wrap. It might be a little better if you don't, but I find I more consistently get a good result when I do a foil wrap. My best brisket ever may not have been wrapped, but neither was my worst ever. And I've had a bunch that were pretty awesome that were wrapped, so I just do. Usually after a minimum of 5-6 hours.

I've cooked briskets on the top and bottom rack at the same time - didn't notice all that much difference between them. If you're cooking fat cap up, you might want the upper rack just to put more distance between your meat and the direct heat.

I haven't put a spritzer on a brisket in a very long time. I never noticed enough of a difference to make it worth doing it.

I've never put in a water pan - but it can't hurt if you want to do that. I've never injected a brisket - never needed to.

As someone else said - if you can finish it (essentially hit 200 degrees) in enough time to let it sit in a cooler for a couple of hours, that's ideal. I'll wrap in foil, put a towel in the bottom of the cooler, put the brisket in, then put another towel on top and close the lit. Let it sit. I've kept one warm for 4 hours without any worries, and they really are better if you give them a little time to sit.