Pondering some tough flex choices for your fantasy lineup? Adam Rank sorts through the running backs, receivers and tight ends to present his top 150 flex options each week for the 2024 fantasy football season, with some useful nuggets of analysis sprinkled in. The ranking is based on a 0.5 PPR scoring format.
NOTE: In a typical week, this ranking will be posted on Tuesday. Injury designations will be added, adjusted or removed as teams' official injury reports are made available. The following three designations will be reflected:
- (Q) -- Player is listed as questionable on his team’s official injury report.
- (D) -- Player is listed as doubtful on his team’s official injury report.
- (O) -- Player has been ruled out on his team's official injury report.
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FLEX RANKINGS: 1-50
The bye weeks are here, with the Lions, Chargers, Eagles and Titans first to get a week off. I hope you have planned accordingly. Although, it’s hard to plan when you have to work through as many injuries as we’ve seen this season. The Chiefs are one of the teams that has been hit hard in recent weeks. Isiah Pacheco is out for the foreseeable future. Rashee Rice is out for the next four games, at least. Carson Steele was used sparingly after he fumbled on Sunday. After a very slow start to the season, Travis Kelce had seven catches for 89 yards in Week 4 and might be a guy we can count on again. That would be amazing because the tight end position has been a wasteland this year.
Now, on to the rest of the notes ...
- Keep an eye on Jonathan Taylor’s status heading into Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. He would be No. 1 in my rankings if not for his ankle injury. Trey Sermon will be the next back up for Indianapolis if Taylor does not play. (UPDATE: Shane Steichen said Friday that Taylor will not play against the Jaguars.)
- We saw what Derrick Henry did to the Bills, gashing them for 199 yards rushing and a TD. He might have had two scores had he not fumbled into the end zone for one of those delightful That Helps No One touchdowns. Henry has now posted 30-plus fantasy points in consecutive games.
- Alvin Kamara has 20-plus touches and 110-plus scrimmage yards in each of the Saints’ four games this season. His league-high 536 scrimmage yards account for 38 percent of the team’s scrimmage yards this season.
- Do you remember the great offseason debate of which Texans receiver to target in fantasy this year? Well, clearly the answer was Nico Collins, who leads the NFL with 489 receiving yards. Here’s the thing: The next-closest player has 103 fewer receiving yards than Collins. Are you kidding me? Who is the next player, you ask? What, you couldn’t look it up on your own? It’s Malik Nabers. I don’t have enough shares of Nabers this year. I feared his quarterback situation. Nabers is in the concussion protocol this week, so we will continue to keep an eye on his status. (UPDATE: Brian Daboll said Friday that Nabers will not play.) I bet you can’t guess who ranks fourth in receiving yards. Take a guess. Wrong, it’s Jauan Jennings. He’s had a couple of monster weeks. Is it sustainable? Maybe not. But I love his matchup against the Cardinals this week.
- Since we’re on the subject, guess who is second in the NFL in rushing yards. Yes, it’s Jordan Mason. Just like we all thought it would be.
- Breece Hall had a miserable game against the Broncos, but I blame a lot of the Jets’ woes on what looks like a brewing quarrel between Aaron Rodgers and Robert Saleh. Here’s my thing: I think this beef has really hurt Hall and Garrett Wilson, which is really bumming me out. I don’t like the situation at all. But we’re in it. I mean, the Jets are 2-2 and yet it feels like they are 0-4. They play the 4-0 Vikings this week. Wonderful.
- I know this space isn’t really about quarterbacks. But if you have the injured Anthony Richardson, for instance, you might want to start looking at a quarterback like Justin Fields if he’s still available on your waiver wire. I say this because I expect the Steelers to run the ball a lot against the Cowboys this week, which would be great for Najee Harris, too.
- Keep an eye on Travis Etienne’s shoulder injury this week. He’s scored 15-plus fantasy points only once in his last eight games. You should probably be rushing out to pick up Tank Bigsby.
- Tee Higgins leads the Bengals in targets since he returned from injury. Just saying.
- Tony Pollard is on bye this week, but I wanted to say he has been great this year. I was way wrong about him. That’s on me. One of my biggest misses of the preseason. The time to trade for him was last week. But I would say things will get a lot better for him if Mason Rudolph eventually becomes the Titans' starting quarterback, though head coach Brian Callahan said on Monday night he’s sticking with Will Levis when Levis is healthy.
FLEX RANKINGS: 51-100
- Brian Thomas Jr. was a top-10 fantasy receiver in Week 4, making six grabs for 86 yards and a touchdown. He’s had nine targets in back-to-back games. His teammate Christian Kirk is worth starting, too.
- Xavier Worthy had three receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown on four targets in Week 4. I like him more as a WR3 than as a starter in leagues where you play just two receivers.
- Let’s talk about tight ends. With a total of two targets and no catches in the last two weeks, Mark Andrews should probably go to your bench. Now, if you have Kyle Pitts on your roster and you’re feeling frustrated after his zero-catch Week 4, you need to chill. The Falcons scored on special teams and on defense in their win over the Saints. That took away some opportunities for the offense. I’m not going to panic too hard about it. In fact, I would try to get Pitts into my lineup this week. Heck, check the waiver wire. Somebody might have an itchy trigger finger and drop him. Make sure you check.
- The Bears face the Panthers’ 29th-ranked run defense this week, which is good for D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson. Also, the Texans host the Bills, who rank 30th against the run after getting bullied by the Ravens, so that’s a great opportunity for Joe Mixon (if he returns from injury) or Cam Akers. (UPDATE: Mixon was ruled out for the game on Friday's injury report.) By the way, Swift had 29.5 fantasy points in Week 4. He became the fourth Bears player in the last 10 seasons to lead the team outright in rushing attempts, rushing yards, receptions and receiving yards in a single game. This is a big game for the Bears to show that they really are making progress. Or will they really Bears this up and revert to what went wrong in previous weeks? I'm saying this as a Bears fan, mind you.
- Xavier Legette finished with 19.6 fantasy points on Sunday. He was targeted 10 times with Adam Thielen sidelined due to injury, the same number of targets Legette had in his first three games combined. This week he’ll be lining up across from a Bears defense that plays mostly zone coverage. I wish they would mix in more man defense when they are in third-and-long situations.
- It was great to see Jordan Addison return from injury in Week 4. I kind of wish I had him in my starting lineup. Maybe not this week against the Jets, although Sam Darnold can’t stop throwing touchdowns.
- Justice Hill led the Ravens in targets, receptions and receiving yards on Sunday. He has a great matchup this week against the Bengals’ woeful defense. Hill has some Flex appeal.
FLEX RANKINGS: 101-150
- I was high on Chase Brown in last week’s rankings. Then he went out and rushed for 80 yards with a pair of touchdowns. His matchup against the Ravens this week is better than you would think.