Every manager in fantasy football knows the pain of going into a week with many go-to starters on a bye. It's the type of thing that can cost your team a key loss if you don't have a plan to deal with it, but you also must have an approach for working around every bye week on your schedule, because losing even one top player can put your team at a competitive disadvantage.
The best fantasy managers figure out ways to deal with bye week absences while using the mock draft simulator ahead of the season. The one included in the RotoWire draft kit is one of the best.
They also but also find ways to use bye weeks to hinder opposing teams. It's all part of the bye week fantasy football strategy process which will be covered below.
Why Bye Weeks Can Make or Break Your Season
The first thing fantasy managers must do when dealing with bye weeks is decide on a plan of attack. This can mean using custom fantasy football rankings to determine if you want to stack up on players with the same bye (thus probably assuring you one loss but keeping you from many bye week hindrances in other weeks) or spread the bye weeks around. Make sure to deploy the draft assistant during your draft to monitor bye weeks.
The worst strategy is no strategy when looking over your fantasy football cheat sheet on draft day. When that happens, you may end up with a wide range of bye weeks, but you will almost invariably end up with a stack of byes that hurts one position to a point that your team will be non-competitive at that position on multiple occasions.
Smart Waiver Wire Pickups Before the Bye Week Hits
Let's say you used the fantasy football ADP rankings to your advantage yet still end up with too many byes at one position in a week. The first step is to immediately take note of this so you can determine which week(s) are at risk.
The next step is to start looking at waiver-wire or free-agent pickups well before that bye week hits. This should give you ample time to find replacement options, but it may also require spending some time reviewing the NFL depth charts to see which players are the best bench stash candidates for your particular situation. Don't wait until the last minute to do this, because other managers may be in the same bye week boat and will give you competition for those replacement players.
Roster Management: Who to Start, Sit or Drop
The key factor to keep in mind when making roster decisions to cover bye weeks is the cost of long-term versus short-term decisions. It's a fine line to figure out just how far ahead of the curve that you need to get before the opportunity cost is too high, but it is a factor you need to take into consideration.
This can be especially tricky in leagues with short benches. In that type of league, it might behoove you to keep a close eye on the weekly fantasy football news and find fill-in candidates a couple of weeks out. In deeper leagues, you should try to stay further ahead of the curve.
Trading Tactics to Cover Bye Week Gaps
Trades are another way to cover bye week gaps. This can actually serve two functions. You can look over the weekly fantasy football rankings to target a trade that can help you fill in a bye while also helping an opponent who is facing your toughest league competition. That's a great win-win scenario that will make it more likely that this manager trades again with you in the future.
If you have success in pursuing fantasy sleepers in your draft, you will usually end up with a talent glut in one area of your roster. If that occurs, you can then look at teams that have a shortage at that roster position and pick another player on their roster that best fits your bye week needs and make a strong offer for him.
Position-Specific Bye Week Strategies
Quarterback is one position that frequently has bye week issues. This largely occurs in 8-team leagues and/or leagues with short benches. In those situations, many fantasy managers will decide to roster only one quarterback because they figure they can get a backup on demand. If you are in this scenario, the key is to set a high floor by getting a bit ahead of the curve, because quarterback is the highest-scoring position and you don't want to fall too far behind there.
Fantasy managers also often run into issues with handcuff RB situations or when they stack QBs and WRs from the same team. It can be tough to manage those situations because you still want to benefit from the insurance that handcuff RBs provide and the upside of a QB/WR stack. That's why it can pay to only go with a single RB handcuff or have two QB/WR stacks with different bye weeks.
Avoiding the Panic Scramble & Think Two Weeks Ahead
Fantasy managers often go with a stream start strategy at the D/ST position. If you go that route, remember to think two weeks ahead. Do this and you are much more likely to find a strong D/ST and not have to compete with other managers for the same D/ST.
A great way to do this is to use the schedule analysis tools available to those who subscribe to RotoWire. A side benefit of these tools is that you will have more than enough information to keep your cool when it comes to bye weeks. You can establish a reliable system that gives you repeated success in this arena. Do that throughout the season and you will be more prepared for bye weeks than your opponents. That's a recipe for wins.
