Over the summer, I drafted two FFPC RotoViz Triflex startup teams with partners, with the intention of fading QB and then writing about the results here — a continuation of how some of my established teams have successfully done so, as well as how I implemented the same strategy in superflex rookie drafts.
So, of course, it makes total sense that the teams drew the 1.01 and the 1.02 picks, respectively, with no worthwhile opportunities to trade down, guaranteeing that we were locked into drafting either of the two most valuable players in dynasty superflex fantasy football — who, yes, happen to be quarterbacks.
With the start of the regular season just hours away, dynasty startup season is over, so this will be an overview of key points, instead of a pick-by-pick analysis (which, frankly, is probably boring).
The Setup
The premise of this series is that the QB position in superflex is overvalued. The Triflex starting lineups require one QB, two running backs, three receivers, and a tight end, with three flex spots, including one that allows a second starting QB. The vast majority of teams will start a QB in the superflex, so during startup drafts, it’s often a race to fill those two QB spots with solid, long-term starters.
In startup drafts from 2025 and the previous three years, roughly 20 QBs were selected in the first 60 picks, easily outnumbering RBs in the same span, and, save for 2024, generally equating to the same amount of WRs taken in the first five rounds. Here’s the ADP draft grid for the first five rounds of 2025 Triflex startups:
Yes, QBs score more points, which often makes them more desirable in the superflex. Naturally, that means they cost more. Moreover, QBs are already scarce, and that’s before filtering out the ones who are too old, too injury-prone, who have too tenuous a hold on their starting job or who are too inexperienced to yet land their team’s QB1 title.
For more than a decade, RotoViz has urged fantasy participants to “win the flex,” which Shawn Siegele first wrote about in 2013:
In fact, the Flex position is arguably the most important position in fantasy because it’s one of the easiest positions to generate more value over average than your opponents. Whatever strategy fits your particular league format, that strategy should be based on putting an elite player in the Flex position.
In 2019, Blair Andrews designed an app for that very purpose. Granted, in trying to illustrate my point, this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. For one, the app pulls from best ball redraft ADP, not dynasty. So, Justin Fields is much more desirable in redraft than dynasty, while, conversely, Cam Ward goes earlier in dynasty drafts than redraft. Second, when a flex position is limited only to RBs, WRs and TEs, it’s fairly obvious that receivers are the best option, but when expanded to include QBs, it’s trickier.
