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.
- (OUT) -- Player has been ruled out on his team's official injury report.
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FLEX RANKINGS: 1-50
I know this is a column to discuss RBs, WRs and TEs, but I did want to take a moment to talk about how worried I am about Anthony Richardson and C.J. Stroud, who are both outside of the top 14 fantasy QBs heading into Week 4.
Richardson was supposed to run for a ton of yards and touchdowns this season, but he has only one rushing TD through Week 3. There he was on Sunday, helping to push Trey Sermon into the end zone on a goal-line carry. TREY. SERMON. I know I'm supposed to preach patience or something, but I'm getting nervous.
And then there is Stroud. He was getting the it's ok pat on the back from Sam Darnold after throwing two INTs in the Texans' blowout loss to the Vikings. Yes, this is a flex column, but if Richardson and Stroud don't get their (stuff) together, it might not matter who I'm flexing from the Colts and Texans this week.
Now, on to the rest of the notes ...
- Speaking of players who have let us down this season, I'm looking at you, CeeDee Lamb, who posted just 8.7 fantasy points in Week 3. He has a matchup against the Giants on Thursday night, and he did have 39.5 fantasy points the last time he played against them (Week 10 of last season). Oh, and the Giants allowed 27.6 fantasy points to Amari Cooper on Sunday.
- Let's talk about Saquon Barkley for a moment. If you were able to nab him at the end of the first round of your draft, you are probably doing pretty well. Saquon has scored more than 33 fantasy points in two of his three games this season.
- Jonathan Taylor had a tough matchup against the Bears and still ended up with 26.5 fantasy points. He's posted 100-plus rushing yards in back-to-back games for the first time since 2021.
- I'm ready for DK Metcalf to have another big game on Monday might against the Lions. He has put up 20-plus fantasy points in each of the last two games, while Detroit has allowed the second-most fantasy points per game to receivers this year.
- Garrett Wilson isn't somebody you need to be concerned about. I know he has just two receiving touchdowns in the last 18 games, which is kind of bad, especially when Allen Lazard is just coming in and stealing all types of scoring opportunities from him. But I think it's just a matter of time before we see more from Wilson.
- I was worried about Malik Nabers coming into this season, given he had the struggling Daniel Jones as his QB, but Nabers is the first player in NFL history with 20-plus receptions and three or more receiving TDs in his first three career games. He also leads the league in air-yard share (57.6%).
- I was all in on Aaron Jones this year. He's been fantastic in the first three weeks, currently ranking as the fantasy RB9. Now he has a REVENGE GAME against the Packers this week.
- Amari Cooper bounced back from a slow start rather nicely in Week 3 (7 catches for 86 yards, 2 TDs). He had a 24-yard touchdown reception on the first play from scrimmage against the Giants. That will help.
- I'm growing a little concerned about J.K. Dobbins. He's currently the fantasy RB12, but he didn't look great against the Steelers. Obviously, Pittsburgh has a great defense and his Week 4 opponent (Chiefs) doesn't have a defense at the same level right now. They don't. Don't get mad at me. The thing is, teams know that if you stop the run, you can stop the Chargers. This isn't Ann Arbor.
- I like Najee Harris this week. He's had 18-plus touches in each of his three games this season, and Mike Tomlin told reporters on Tuesday that Jaylen Warren will be limited in practice with a knee injury, while Harris won't have any limitations. This week the Steelers visit the Colts, who aren't great against the run. Not that you would know it from watching the Bears struggle to move the ball on the ground against them. It's going to be bad when the Steelers smoke them this week. And yes, I could do without people asking me "hey, do you miss Justin Fields yet?" It's like having your ex living her best life on IG and your friends keep bringing it up. (UPDATE: Warren was listed as out for Sunday's game on the Steelers' Friday injury report.)
- I had identified Bucky Irving as a player to watch coming into the season, which was a take you were all agreeable to (you weren't). Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after Sunday's game that Irving has earned more snaps. He's obviously going to carry the ball more, because Rachaad White is wildly inefficient. If Irving starts to get more looks in the passing game, we could be talking about him as a high-end fantasy RB2.
- You have to love how the Panthers rebounded with Andy Dalton replacing Bryce Young. Hey, former Bears QBs are 4-0 as starters this season. I don't know if people really think of Dalton as a former Bear, but he is one! Diontae Johnson had 14 targets in Dalton's first start of the season. I believe DJ will be the guy we expected him to be coming into this season thanks to Carolina's QB change. And the Panthers draw the Bengals in Week 4. Can we really use the Bengals defense as a choice matchup in fantasy? I think that we can.
- I had a feeling Rome Odunze would end up being the dude at some point this season. Is he already the dude? He led Chicago in receiving yards (112) and tied for the team lead in targets (11) in Week 3. I'm not sure the Bears can continue throwing the ball as much as they did against the Colts. It's not wise and not great for Caleb Williams' development.
- Rashid Shaheed came crashing back down to earth in Week 3. He did have a would-be TD catch broken up. But still, he was out there with the Entenmann's, serving donuts to fantasy managers who had him in the lineup. Yes, that's right: He put up zero fantasy points, with no catches on five targets. In fairness, I had to start him because Cooper Kupp was out. I should have started Odunze instead.
- Keep an eye on the Eagles' injury report this week. Jahan Dotson will be in play if they are without A.J. Brown (hamstring) and DeVonta Smith (concussion). I'd also like to mention Dallas Goedert had 10 receptions for 170 yards on Sunday, the most receiving yards in a game by an Eagles tight end in the Super Bowl era. (UPDATE: The Eagles listed Smith as out and Brown as questionable on Friday's injury report.)
- I'm really hoping Tank Dell can get it going this week. It's been a tough start, with Dell averaging 33 receiving yards per game. He's third on the Texans in targets (17). I mean, it would help if C.J. Stroud started playing a smidge better, but it's not been great for Dell so far. (UPDATE: The Texans listed Dell as out on Friday's injury report.)
- I had Jauan Jennings on the Hype Train this past week. I didn't think he was going to have as many points as he did against the Rams (46.5). I mean, no one did. And I might have told somebody at my son's soccer game that Jennings wasn't going to be that great. But he was really good. Here's the thing: The targets are going to be a lot harder to come by for Jennings whenever George Kittle and Deebo Samuel return from injury.
- Be worried about the Dolphins offense. They averaged 26.2 points per game with Tua Tagovailoa since 2022, including the playoffs. They average 16.5 points without him in that same span. With Tagovailoa out until at least Week 8, you can start Tyreek Hill, but you might want to sit Jaylen Waddle if you can afford to.
- It looks like I blew it with Zamir White this season. I have a lot of exposure to him (as my RB3) in fantasy, and he's off to a brutal start (14.8 points). He wasn't good in a plus matchup against the Panthers, so I'm not sure how you can trust him. That one is on me.
- I love how the Bears got Cole Kmet involved in Week 3. He had 10 receptions against the Colts, which tied a career high. But let's remember that Caleb Williams threw the ball about 600 times against Indianapolis. OK, maybe it was 52 times. Anyway, I'm not sure that production is going to be sustainable for Kmet. However, with the tight end position being a wasteland in fantasy this season, I'm willing to take a chance on him.
FLEX RANKINGS: 101-150
- Jalen Nailor, with a TD in each of the first three games, has gone from a guy we once featured on That Helps No One to a dude that might have some flex appeal when we get into the bye weeks. I mean, it just goes to show you what happens when you have good coaching.
