Is it better to have a RB or WR at Flex? Best fantasy football draft strategies, tips and more to explore before Week 1
Flex players in fantasy football allow managers to start one additional non-quarterback in their offensive lineup. This position is most often filled by either a running back or a wide receiver and usually includes players outside of the top 24 in their positional rankings. Here are the best ways to approach this roster spot or the 2024 NFL season.
What is a Flex player in fantasy football?
A Flex option on a fantasy football roster is an additional starter without specific positional requirements. Most leagues allow for their Flex player in weekly lineups to be any non-quarterback on the offensive side of the ball.
Most managers will elect to use either a running back or a wide receiver in this spot because they usually provide the most value. Tight ends can also be started in the Flex position, but with the exception of rare cases when a fantasy team has multiple elite options in this position, they should generally be avoided.
Is it better to have a RB or WR at Flex?
Whether to target a running back or wide receiver in a Flex position is based off of several factors. Roster construction is one of the main ones, as well as the league scoring settings. In PPR formats, it's often more benificial to use a wide receiver in a flex spot because their receptions can add the most to a weekly score in fantasy football.
Standard leagues with non-PPR scoring usually make running backs the preferred choice for the Flex spot. It's also important to remeber that managers must stay flexible in order to optimize their lineups. They should analyze the weekly matchups of all of their available options and determine which one has the highest projections for the starting Flex role in a particular week.
Do Flex players score differently?
The Flex spot in a starting lineup for fantasy football receives the same scoring settings as all of the other starters each week. Simply put, it adds one additional starter to a weekly lineup with more available options due to the removed requirement of that player being in a certain position.
Due to the identical scoring format, managers should simply determine which of their available options has the highest projections in a particular week and then start that player in their Flex spot. When approaching this position in fantasy football drafts, several options stand out as the best ones to target ranked outside of the top 24 in their specific positions.
Best players for the Flex spot
- Zay Flowers
- Michael Pittman Jr.
- Ezekiel Elliot
- Jerome Ford
- Devin Singletary
- Christian Kirk
- Gus Edwards
- D'Andre Swift
- Zamir White
- Christian Watson