How to Win the Flex Position in Your Fantasy Football League

Aug 25, 2025

Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

The flex position adds a fun wrinkle to fantasy football. The question is, how do you fill the flex position each week? It’s usually best to deploy a running back or a wide receiver at the flex spot, as opposed to a tight end. Factoring in matchups is also key to optimizing your flex position. Let’s look at some historical data that should be factored into making weekly decisions.

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Choosing a Flex in Standard Leagues

Standard leagues help running backs have added value. In the 4for4 Top 200 Value Based Rankings, 12 of the top 20 ranked players are running backs. That includes six of the top seven players. For some historical data, let’s look at the 4for4 Fantasy Points Browser. There were 24 running backs who appeared in at least 10 games and averaged at least 10.0 fantasy points per game last season. Of those 24 running backs, 10 of them averaged at least 14.0 fantasy points per game.

There were only 17 wide receivers who played at least 10 games and averaged at least 10.0 fantasy points per game. Of those 17 wide receivers, only three averaged at least 12.0 fantasy points per game. Ja'Marr Chase (16.2) was the only wide receiver who averaged more than 12.6 fantasy points per game.

Let’s work under the assumption that a fantasy league starts two running backs, two or three wide receivers, and one flex position each week. The pool of viable running backs is smaller than that of wide receivers because there are far more starting wide receivers in the NFL than running backs. Selecting three running backs early in your draft can put you in a strong position at the flex spot, while also leaving you with plenty of options to fill out your wide receiver spots.

In terms of RB3s last season, running backs 25-33 all averaged at least 8.1 fantasy points per game last season. However, WR3s and WR4s start to have more value. There were 44 wide receivers who played at least 10 games and averaged at least 7.0 fantasy points per game last season. There were only 35 running backs who did the same.