It’s week 5 in the NFL, which signals the start of bye weeks for six teams.
Hopefully when you drafted your fantasy team, you paid close attention to your players’ bye weeks: it can be quite unfortunate to realize conflicting schedules before it’s too late. Now, this mostly applies to the skill positions, as it is generally unwise to draft backup kickers and even defenses.
When it comes to bye week strategy, there are several different and completely valid strategies.
Play it Safe
The conventional method is to drop your bench player(s) with the least potential and fill in for your K, D/ST, TE, etc. with an available free agent or waiver wire pickup. The difference between even the elite kickers and defenses and the available free agent and waiver wire options is usually insignificant. You can drop your starter, hope he clears waivers, and pick him up again the following week. If he doesn’t, you can decide to play match-ups for the remaining weeks. If you decide you don’t want to risk losing your starter, however, it may be unwise to drop a skill player for a kicker. If your full-time starters aren’t solid and you’re moving players to and from your bench from week-to-week, you may find your bench to be too invaluable. This is especially true if you’re in a deeper league with short benches.
Potential Forfeit
This strategy entails starting your bye week player(s) and taking zeros. In other words, you are spotting the other team points (7-10 in the case of a kicker). The most important aspect when considering this option is your team record. If your kicker and either of your D/ST and TE have the same bye week, you may consider rostering them and taking zeroes. However, do NOT do this if you are, for example, going into week 5 with a 1-4 record. You can’t afford another loss. How strong you are later in the season won’t matter if you’re not in the playoffs. This is the time when you should be making moves and taking advantage of other teams rostering weaker players during the bye weeks.
Questions to ask yourself:
Can I win without a kicker?
Can I afford another loss with the playoffs in mind?
Will my overall team strength suffer by cutting a bench player?
Will my team fair worse in the playoffs if I make a cut now?
Monday Night Football
Before Sunday, check the availability of the Monday Night Football (MNF) players. Is either of the starting kickers available? If so, you can keep your bye week kicker and see if you match-up will come down to 5-10 points on Sunday night. If so, you can then pick up the MNF kicker.
2-for-1 Trade
Consider trading away two players to a team with a losing record. You open a roster spot and upgrade a position while trading a player with any potential upside to a desperate team. You kill two birds with one stone without sacrificing a K or D/ST starter.
Draft Strategy
One big misconception in fantasy football is that you should try not to draft starters with the same bye weeks. This way you can be close to full strength most weeks. However, the optimal strategy has always been to draft as many starters as possible with the same bye week. Now I’m not saying to give up value for the sake of this strategy, but keep it in mind. Forfeiting one week can pay off the rest of the year when your team is at full strength and you’re up against teams starting marginal prospects.