Like them or loathe them, bye weeks are a part of fantasy football
Those who play fantasy football have two choices when it comes to bye weeks — embrace them or ignore them. Bye weeks are the reason why the NFL regular season is 17 weeks. Going into every season, fantasy owners know that their best players will miss one game, and it has nothing to do with health.
So whether your strategy going into the draft is work around bye weeks so as not to put your roster in a bind for a given week or simply draft who you want and let the byes fall where they may, at least you can’t say you haven’t been warned.
Related: Strategy and Tips to Prepare for Your Fantasy Draft
And as it relates to this season, one particular aspect worth nothing is that the last bye falls on Week 13, which means Cleveland and Tennessee won’t get a break until December. From a strictly fantasy viewpoint, Weeks 8 and 9 appear to be the worst with six teams off each of those weeks.
2016 NFL Bye Week Schedule
Week 4: Green Bay, Philadelphia
Week 5: Jacksonville, Kansas City, New Orleans, Seattle
Week 6: Minnesota, Tampa Bay
Week 7: Carolina, Dallas
Week 8: Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York Giants, Pittsburgh, San Francisco
Week 9: Arizona, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, New England, Washington
Week 10: Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis, Oakland
Week 11: Atlanta, Denver, New York Jets, San Diego
Week 13: Cleveland, Tennessee
2016 NFL Bye Weeks by Team
| Team | Week |
| Arizona | Week 9 |
| Atlanta | Week 11 |
| Baltimore | Week 8 |
| Buffalo | Week 10 |
| Carolina | Week 7 |
| Chicago | Week 9 |
| Cincinnati | Week 9 |
| Cleveland | Week 13 |
| Dallas | Week 7 |
| Denver | Week 11 |
| Detroit | Week 10 |
| Green Bay | Week 4 |
| Houston | Week 9 |
| Indianapolis | Week 10 |
| Jacksonville | Week 5 |
| Kansas City | Week 5 |
| Los Angeles | Week 8 |
| Miami | Week 8 |
| Minnesota | Week 6 |
| New England | Week 9 |
| New Orleans | Week 5 |
| New York Giants | Week 8 |
| New York Jets | Week 11 |
| Oakland | Week 10 |
| Philadelphia | Week 4 |
| Pittsburgh | Week 8 |
| San Diego | Week 11 |
| San Francisco | Week 8 |
| Seattle | Week 5 |
| Tampa Bay | Week 6 |
| Tennessee | Week 13 |
| Washington | Week 9 |
