What is a Flex in Fantasy Football?

If you're new to fantasy football and your draft is coming up, you're probably wondering what to expect. Plenty of your questions will revolve around best draft strategies and specific strategy for your draft position, but some of the questions will be even more basic.

One topic that will surely come up arises from looking at the positions you'll need to fill. There are the standard QB, RB, WR, TE and K slots in your starting lineup, but also a spot for FLEX. What exactly does FLEX mean in fantasy football?

What is a Flex in Fantasy Football?

The FLEX spot is an extra position in your starting lineup that can be filled by several different positions. In standard leagues, this position can be filled by another running back, wide receiver or tight end. Hence the idea that fantasy managers have flexible choices when filling out their starting lineup each and every week.

What Position is Best for Flex in Fantasy Football?

Each fantasy manager must leave their draft with at least one additional running back or wide receiver outside of the two starting players at each respective position. That's a minimum. You should probably aim to have at least two or three additional players for each position on your bench.

To keep things simple, your best bet is starting one of those additional running backs or wide receivers in the FLEX position.

Weekly lineup management is another challenge itself, so you'll want to identify favorable matchups when choosing your FLEX each week. It could be choosing a running back playing against the NFL's worst rush-defense that week, or opting for the receiver playing a team that just lost their best cornerback due to injury.

There are only a few, rare reasons you'd be better suited playing an additional tight end in your FLEX spot. Say the entire cast of your backup running backs and wide receivers are all on the injured list, or you somehow drafted a pair of tight ends that both produce like wide receivers (think Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews).

Neither of those above scenarios is likely, or even possible, so just keep it simple by using that spot for an RB or WR.

What is SuperFlex in Fantasy Football?

In some leagues, the FLEX position is designated as a SuperFlex. This simply means that managers are allowed to use quarterbacks in that spot as well as RBs, WRs or TEs.

Fantasy Football Draft Advice

With some of the basics on roster construction down, now you're ready to figure out who you're drafting. Check out some of the stories below from The Duel:

• Fantasy Football Rankings
• 10 Best Fantasy Football Sleepers to Win Your League
• 60 Best Fantasy Football Team Names

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.