Flanagan began her television career while in college as a student intern at KVOA-TV. Following graduation, she worked as a reporter and weekend anchor at KCCO-TV in Alexandria, Minnesota, and worked in the same capacity for WSFA-TV in Montgomery, Alabama.

Before joining ESPN, Flanagan worked for the Fox Sports Net as a reporter for its various news programs.

Prior to the NFL Network, Flanagan worked at ESPN as a sideline reporter for college football and a SportsCenter correspondent for five years. While at ESPN, she reported for Baseball Tonight, NFL Monday Night Countdown, Outside The Lines, College GameDay, ESPN Radio and served as co-host of the Home Depot College Football Awards and ESPN Classic road shows.

Flanagan serves as a sideline reporter for Notre Dame home football games on NBC Sports since 2007 and has been an anchor/reporter for the NFL Network since 2006. Along with hosting in-depth analysis and interview shows at NFLN, she is also an anchor for the network's Super Bowl, NFL Draft and college football coverage.

For the NFL Network, it is her job to break news during the day on NFL Network Now which is an update segment. When host Rich Eisen is unavailable, Alex often hosts NFL Total Access, an hourly show on the NFL Network that recaps games from the preceding week and previews upcoming action.

Flanagan served as host of CNBC and USA Network's coverage for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Alex is a native of Sonoita, Arizona. She is married to Kevin Flanagan, a former University of Arizona basketball player. They have two daughters and a son.

Alex is a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority.