After one of the more chaotic offseasons in NFL history, the focus now shifts to the 2022 season. Fantasy football season is always in full swing on Fantrax, and now that the dust has settled on the 2022 NFL Draft, I wanted to post my early Flex rankings for the upcoming season. These are based on half-PPR scoring, and will surely change quite a bit between now and September.
Running Backs
As usual, running backs will be the order of the day for most fantasy managers early on in their fantasy football drafts. Twenty of the top-36 spots in my flex rankings are running backs. This group is led by Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. Taylor eclipsed the 2,000 total yard barrier and scored 20 touchdowns last season. Some fantasy managers were panicked when Taylor entered the month of October as the overall RB29. But, as is often the case, patience was rewarded. Once he got his legs under him, Taylor was a man on a mission. He ran for a score in each of his next 11 games en route to overall RB1 status. The Colts executed their annual tradition of acquiring a veteran quarterback by trading a third-round pick for former MVP Matt Ryan. But this offense will still run through Taylor, making him a relatively safe pick.
I tend not to get too tied up in ADP and how others rank players, especially this early in the process. However, I like the Packers tandem of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon a bit more than most seem to. I think they will both be heavily relied upon, particularly given the absence of Davante Adams. As of now, I believe Jones should be a second-round pick (our current ADP has him 29th) and I have Dillon several spots higher than the Expert Consensus Rankings does. And Tony Pollard is one of my favorite picks in the middle rounds. I know Ezekiel Elliott played with a partially torn PCL last year, which seems to be the main reason for his lack of burst. But Pollard would be waiting in the wings should Elliott not be able to regain his prior form.
Wide Receivers
What a wild offseason for many of the top wide receivers throughout the NFL. Of the top-30 receivers in fantasy points per game last season, nearly half have seen a tangible change in their environments from a season ago. Several are with new teams, including Adams, Tyreek Hill, and A.J. Brown. Others, including the Seattle Seahawks duo of Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, will be catching passes from a new signal-caller. And I haven’t even mentioned the six-game suspension of DeAndre Hopkins, the ongoing saga in San Francisco with Deebo Samuel, or the circumstances surrounding Antonio Brown and Calvin Ridley. Oh, by the way, the NFL just welcomed an incredibly talented draft class of wideouts into the league as well. So yeah, wide receiver is going to be interesting this season.
Of the aforementioned wideouts (excluding Antonio Brown and Ridley), the ones who give me the most pause are Hopkins and Samuel. I still have Hopkins as a sixth-round pick, but I’m not sure how much exposure I’ll have going forward. As for Samuel, his unhappiness with his franchise seems to be partly based on the team using him as a running back for much of their stretch run. For Deebo Samuel the professional who has to think about his long-term physical and financial well-being, I understand his frustration. For our purposes though, that role is exactly what makes him a weekly WR1. If he were to be deployed as a typical wide receiver, be it by the 49ers or some other team, his fantasy stock would likely fall to the WR2-WR3 range in 12-team leagues.
Tight Ends
Coming into 2022, I think there is a “Fab Five” at the tight end position. My preference is to draft one of the five (Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, Kyle Pitts, George Kittle, and Darren Waller) wherever possible. I think it is far more likely that running backs and receivers will emerge as values towards the middle and back ends of drafts. Therefore, I want to try to secure more known quantities where I can. There are cases to be made for several tight ends to jump up a notch, including T.J. Hockenson, Dallas Goedert, and Dalton Schultz to name a few. However, at that point, I would just as soon wait it out and draft a pair of tight ends to use in tandem, such as Zach Ertz and Logan Thomas, for example. There are very few instances in which I would use a tight end in my Flex spot.
Rookies
Rookies are seemingly making a bigger impact in fantasy football than ever before. The meteoric rise of Ja’Marr Chase last season only emphasizes that point. So it may seem odd that I do not have any rookies ranked particularly high in my flex rankings at the moment. As I stated earlier, these Flex rankings will change, and I will likely bump a few rookies up the list as the season draws closer. For now, the only rookie I would draft within the first five rounds is Breece Hall. And to be honest, I probably won’t draft him anyway because I am an emotionally scarred Jets fan who refuses to believe they have the potential to put what appears to be an actual 21st century NFL offense on the football field. This concept simply does not compute in my brain.
In Dynasty leagues, my favorite wideout is Jameson Williams. I would also rank him the highest in Best Ball formats, provided you have coverage elsewhere early in the season. For Redraft, however, I would be surprised if we saw him on the field before October. I currently have Treylon Burks, Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Skyy Moore slightly higher than Williams in Redraft formats. Having said that, once we start seeing more Instagram videos of Williams cutting on a dime and making one-handed catches in July, I will move him up accordingly. If you believe in the talent, you should get him while you can at his current draft price. He could be one of the biggest risers in ADP throughout the rest of the spring and summer.
Top-250 Flex Rankings for Fantasy Football
| Rank | Player Name | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Taylor | IND | RB1 |
| 2 | Christian McCaffrey | CAR | RB2 |
| 3 | Austin Ekeler | LAC | RB3 |
| 4 | Derrick Henry | TEN | RB4 |
| 5 | Cooper Kupp | LAR | WR1 |
| 6 | Dalvin Cook | MIN | RB5 |
| 7 | Najee Harris | PIT | RB6 |
| 8 | Justin Jefferson | MIN | WR2 |
| 9 | Ja'Marr Chase | CIN | WR3 |
| 10 | Davante Adams | LV | WR4 |
| 11 | Joe Mixon | CIN | RB7 |
| 12 | Stefon Diggs | BUF | WR5 |
| 13 | Nick Chubb | CLE | RB8 |
| 14 | Alvin Kamara | NO | RB9 |
| 15 | D'Andre Swift | DET | RB10 |
| 16 | CeeDee Lamb | DAL | WR6 |
| 17 | Tyreek Hill | MIA | WR7 |
| 18 | Leonard Fournette | TB | RB11 |
| 19 | Aaron Jones | GB | RB12 |
| 20 | Travis Kelce | KC | TE1 |
| 21 | Javonte Williams | DEN | RB13 |
| 22 | Mark Andrews | BAL | TE2 |
| 23 | Deebo Samuel | SF | WR8 |
| 24 | James Conner | ARI | RB14 |
| 25 | Mike Evans | TB | WR9 |
| 26 | Keenan Allen | LAC | WR10 |
| 27 | Antonio Gibson | WAS | RB15 |
| 28 | A.J. Brown | PHI | WR11 |
| 29 | Saquon Barkley | NYG | RB16 |
| 30 | Cam Akers | LAR | RB17 |
| 31 | David Montgomery | CHI | RB18 |
| 32 | Tee Higgins | CIN | WR12 |
| 33 | Josh Jacobs | LV | RB19 |
| 34 | Diontae Johnson | PIT | WR13 |
| 35 | Jaylen Waddle | MIA | WR14 |
| 36 | Ezekiel Elliott | DAL | RB20 |
| 37 | Kyle Pitts | ATL | TE3 |
| 38 | Michael Pittman Jr. | IND | WR15 |
| 39 | DJ Moore | CAR | WR16 |
| 40 | Breece Hall | NYJ | RB21 |
| 41 | J.K. Dobbins | BAL | RB22 |
| 42 | Elijah Mitchell | SF | RB23 |
| 43 | Amari Cooper | CLE | WR17 |
| 44 | DK Metcalf | SEA | WR18 |
| 45 | George Kittle | SF | TE4 |
| 46 | Travis Etienne Jr. | JAC | RB24 |
| 47 | Chris Godwin | TB | WR19 |
| 48 | Terry McLaurin | WAS | WR20 |
| 49 | Darren Waller | LV | TE5 |
| 50 | Michael Thomas | NO | WR21 |
| 51 | AJ Dillon | GB | RB25 |
| 52 | Jerry Jeudy | DEN | WR22 |
| 53 | Miles Sanders | PHI | RB26 |
| 54 | Damien Harris | NE | RB27 |
| 55 | Brandin Cooks | HOU | WR23 |
| 56 | Melvin Gordon III | DEN | RB28 |
| 57 | Clyde Edwards-Helaire | KC | RB29 |
| 58 | Elijah Moore | NYJ | WR24 |
| 59 | Chase Edmonds | MIA | RB30 |
| 60 | T.J. Hockenson | DET | TE6 |
| 61 | DeAndre Hopkins | ARI | WR25 |
| 62 | Mike Williams | LAC | WR26 |
| 63 | Darnell Mooney | CHI | WR27 |
| 64 | Courtland Sutton | DEN | WR28 |
| 65 | Kareem Hunt | CLE | RB31 |
| 66 | Devin Singletary | BUF | RB32 |
| 67 | Marquise Brown | ARI | WR29 |
| 68 | Allen Robinson II | LAR | WR30 |
| 69 | Rashaad Penny | SEA | RB33 |
| 70 | Tony Pollard | DAL | RB34 |
| 71 | JuJu Smith-Schuster | KC | WR31 |
| 72 | Amon-Ra St. Brown | DET | WR32 |
| 73 | Tyler Lockett | SEA | WR33 |
| 74 | Dallas Goedert | PHI | TE7 |
| 75 | Kenneth Walker III | SEA | RB35 |
| 76 | Dalton Schultz | DAL | TE8 |
| 77 | Gabriel Davis | BUF | WR34 |
| 78 | Rashod Bateman | BAL | WR35 |
| 79 | Michael Carter | NYJ | RB36 |
| 80 | Hunter Renfrow | LV | WR36 |
| 81 | DeVonta Smith | PHI | WR37 |
| 82 | Cordarrelle Patterson | ATL | RB37 |
| 83 | Rhamondre Stevenson | NE | RB38 |
| 84 | Adam Thielen | MIN | WR38 |
| 85 | Ronald Jones II | KC | RB39 |
| 86 | Dawson Knox | BUF | TE9 |
| 87 | James Robinson | JAC | RB40 |
| 88 | Treylon Burks | TEN | WR39 |
| 89 | Brandon Aiyuk | SF | WR40 |
| 90 | Zach Ertz | ARI | TE10 |
| 91 | Alexander Mattison | MIN | RB41 |
| 92 | Raheem Mostert | MIA | RB42 |
| 93 | Drake London | ATL | WR41 |
| 94 | Robert Woods | TEN | WR42 |
| 95 | Darrell Henderson Jr. | LAR | RB43 |
| 96 | J.D. McKissic | WAS | RB44 |
| 97 | Chase Claypool | PIT | WR43 |
| 98 | Christian Kirk | JAC | WR44 |
| 99 | Mike Gesicki | MIA | TE11 |
| 100 | Garrett Wilson | NYJ | WR45 |
| 101 | Pat Freiermuth | PIT | TE12 |
| 102 | James Cook | BUF | RB45 |
| 103 | Rob Gronkowski | FA | TE13 |
| 104 | Cole Kmet | CHI | TE14 |
| 105 | Michael Gallup | DAL | WR46 |
| 106 | Noah Fant | SEA | TE15 |
| 107 | Sony Michel | LAR | RB46 |
| 108 | Hunter Henry | NE | TE16 |
| 109 | Kadarius Toney | NYG | WR47 |
| 110 | Albert Okwuegbunam | DEN | TE17 |
| 111 | Allen Lazard | GB | WR48 |
| 112 | Russell Gage | TB | WR49 |
| 113 | Nyheim Hines | IND | RB47 |
| 114 | Jamaal Williams | DET | RB48 |
| 115 | Jakobi Meyers | NE | WR50 |
| 116 | Kenneth Gainwell | PHI | RB49 |
| 117 | Robert Tonyan | GB | TE18 |
| 118 | Gus Edwards | BAL | RB50 |
| 119 | Chris Olave | NO | WR51 |
| 120 | DeVante Parker | NE | WR52 |
| 121 | Marquez Valdes-Scantling | KC | WR53 |
| 122 | Logan Thomas | WAS | TE19 |
| 123 | Skyy Moore | KC | WR54 |
| 124 | Tyler Boyd | CIN | WR55 |
| 125 | David Njoku | CLE | TE20 |
| 126 | Kenny Golladay | NYG | WR56 |
| 127 | James White | NE | RB51 |
| 128 | Irv Smith Jr. | MIN | TE21 |
| 129 | Rondale Moore | ARI | WR57 |
| 130 | Tyler Higbee | LAR | TE22 |
| 131 | Dameon Pierce | HOU | RB52 |
| 132 | D.J. Chark Jr. | DET | WR58 |
| 133 | Corey Davis | NYJ | WR59 |
| 134 | Jameson Williams | DET | WR60 |
| 135 | Darrel Williams | KC | RB53 |
| 136 | D'Onta Foreman | CAR | RB54 |
| 137 | Isaiah Spiller | LAC | RB55 |
| 138 | Chris Carson | SEA | RB56 |
| 139 | Myles Gaskin | MIA | RB57 |
| 140 | Van Jefferson | LAR | WR61 |
| 141 | Christian Watson | GB | WR62 |
| 142 | Evan Engram | JAC | TE23 |
| 143 | Gerald Everett | LAC | TE24 |
| 144 | Mecole Hardman | KC | WR63 |
| 145 | Jarvis Landry | FA | WR64 |
| 146 | Khalil Herbert | CHI | RB58 |
| 147 | Tim Patrick | DEN | WR65 |
| 148 | Sterling Shepard | NYG | WR66 |
| 149 | Chuba Hubbard | CAR | RB59 |
| 150 | Jahan Dotson | WAS | WR67 |
| 151 | Rachaad White | TB | RB60 |
| 152 | Odell Beckham Jr. | FA | WR68 |
| 153 | William Fuller V | FA | WR69 |
| 154 | Marlon Mack | HOU | RB61 |
| 155 | Robby Anderson | CAR | WR70 |
| 156 | Trey Sermon | SF | RB62 |
| 157 | Austin Hooper | TEN | TE25 |
| 158 | Brian Robinson Jr. | WAS | RB63 |
| 159 | Jamison Crowder | BUF | WR71 |
| 160 | Curtis Samuel | WAS | WR72 |
| 161 | Tyler Allgeier | ATL | RB64 |
| 162 | Laviska Shenault Jr. | JAC | WR73 |
| 163 | Justin Jackson | LAC | RB65 |
| 164 | Boston Scott | PHI | RB66 |
| 165 | George Pickens | PIT | WR74 |
| 166 | Marvin Jones Jr. | JAC | WR75 |
| 167 | Zack Moss | BUF | RB67 |
| 168 | Kendrick Bourne | NE | WR76 |
| 169 | Kenyan Drake | LV | RB68 |
| 170 | Donovan Peoples-Jones | CLE | WR77 |
| 171 | D'Ernest Johnson | CLE | RB69 |
| 172 | Adam Trautman | NO | TE26 |
| 173 | Julio Jones | FA | WR78 |
| 174 | Nico Collins | HOU | WR79 |
| 175 | Samaje Perine | CIN | RB70 |
| 176 | Terrace Marshall Jr. | CAR | WR80 |
| 177 | Marquez Callaway | NO | WR81 |
| 178 | Joshua Palmer | LAC | WR82 |
| 179 | Jonnu Smith | NE | TE27 |
| 180 | A.J. Green | ARI | WR83 |
| 181 | Braxton Berrios | NYJ | WR84 |
| 182 | David Bell | CLE | WR85 |
| 183 | Jerick McKinnon | KC | RB71 |
| 184 | Ty Johnson | NYJ | RB72 |
| 185 | Dan Arnold | JAC | TE28 |
| 186 | Mark Ingram II | NO | RB73 |
| 187 | David Johnson | HOU | RB74 |
| 188 | Zamir White | LV | RB75 |
| 189 | K.J. Osborn | MIN | WR86 |
| 190 | Jared Cook | LAC | TE29 |
| 191 | Hayden Hurst | CIN | TE30 |
| 192 | Mike Davis | FA | RB76 |
| 193 | Wan'Dale Robinson | NYG | WR87 |
| 194 | Brevin Jordan | HOU | TE31 |
| 195 | John Metchie III | HOU | WR88 |
| 196 | Tyrion Davis-Price | SF | RB77 |
| 197 | Damien Williams | ATL | RB78 |
| 198 | Cole Beasley | FA | WR89 |
| 199 | Jeff Wilson Jr. | SF | RB79 |
| 200 | Cedrick Wilson Jr. | MIA | WR90 |
| 201 | Alec Pierce | IND | WR91 |
| 202 | Phillip Lindsay | MIA | RB80 |
| 203 | C.J. Uzomah | NYJ | TE32 |
| 204 | Byron Pringle | CHI | WR92 |
| 205 | O.J. Howard | BUF | TE33 |
| 206 | Eno Benjamin | ARI | RB81 |
| 207 | Parris Campbell | IND | WR93 |
| 208 | Emmanuel Sanders | BUF | WR94 |
| 209 | Ke'Shawn Vaughn | TB | RB82 |
| 210 | Tre'Quan Smith | NO | WR95 |
| 211 | Trey McBride | ARI | TE34 |
| 212 | Nelson Agholor | NE | WR96 |
| 213 | Rex Burkhead | HOU | RB83 |
| 214 | Jalen Tolbert | DAL | WR97 |
| 215 | Mo Alie-Cox | IND | TE35 |
| 216 | KJ Hamler | DEN | WR98 |
| 217 | Pierre Strong Jr. | NE | RB84 |
| 218 | Bryan Edwards | LV | WR99 |
| 219 | Hassan Haskins | TEN | RB85 |
| 220 | Zay Jones | JAC | WR100 |
| 221 | Randall Cobb | GB | WR101 |
| 222 | Josh Reynolds | DET | WR102 |
| 223 | Antonio Brown | FA | WR103 |
| 224 | Sammy Watkins | GB | WR104 |
| 225 | Salvon Ahmed | MIA | RB86 |
| 226 | Isaiah McKenzie | BUF | WR105 |
| 227 | Jalen Reagor | PHI | WR106 |
| 228 | Dontrell Hilliard | TEN | RB87 |
| 229 | Darrynton Evans | CHI | RB88 |
| 230 | James Washington | DAL | WR107 |
| 231 | Anthony Firkser | ATL | TE36 |
| 232 | Malcolm Brown | MIA | RB89 |
| 233 | Quintez Cephus | DET | WR108 |
| 234 | Kyren Williams | LAR | RB90 |
| 235 | Darius Slayton | NYG | WR109 |
| 236 | Tyquan Thornton | NE | WR110 |
| 237 | Olamide Zaccheaus | ATL | WR111 |
| 238 | Devontae Booker | FA | RB91 |
| 239 | Josiah Deguara | GB | TE37 |
| 240 | Eric Ebron | FA | TE38 |
| 241 | Latavius Murray | BAL | RB92 |
| 242 | Tyler Conklin | NYJ | TE39 |
| 243 | Blake Jarwin | FA | TE40 |
| 244 | Keaontay Ingram | ARI | RB93 |
| 245 | Devonta Freeman | BAL | RB94 |
| 246 | Wayne Gallman Jr. | MIN | RB95 |
| 247 | Jerome Ford | CLE | RB96 |
| 248 | Ricky Seals-Jones | NYG | TE41 |
| 249 | Dyami Brown | WAS | WR112 |
| 250 | Joshua Kelley | LAC | RB97 |