The NFL released its complete schedule on Wednesday, but the first thing I wanted to know was when teams wouldn't play games.
If you love fantasy football, bye weeks are a must.
Decide on some rules for your bye week in advance. I think it would be foolish to draft with a heavy bias towards the bye week. The future is unwritten and cannot be known. The roster you draft today (or in August or September) can, and often will, be radically different a few weeks before life begins. The bye week can sometimes be a tiebreaker on draft day, but it's generally a mistake to go through with it.
Still, it takes a little planning. So first he looks at his eight weeks, including the 2024 bye, and then looks at which teams have tougher schedules at the beginning of the year (September) or at the end of the year (Weeks 15-17). Or try to figure out how easy it is. fantasy playoffs).
Now, byes are distributed like this:
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Week 5: Lions, Chargers, Eagles, Titans
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Week 6: Chiefs, Rams, Dolphins, Vikings
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Week 7: Bears, Cowboys
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Week 9: Steelers, 49ers
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Week 10: Browns, Packers, Raiders, Seahawks
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Week 11: Cardinals, Panthers, Giants, Buccaneers
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Week 12: Falcons, Bills, Bengals, Jaguars, Saints, Jets
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Week 14: Ravens, Broncos, Texans, Colts, Patriots, Commanders
We'll never fully understand why NFL bye weeks aren't all the standard four teams, but you'll notice (as always) that some of these bye weeks are different than others. Only two teams will participate in Weeks 7 and 9, and a whopping six teams will go on vacation in Weeks 12 and 14.
I've been playing fantasy football for a while (Brett Favre was a rookie and relatively unknown player when I first got into the game). I've heard all kinds of bye week strategies. Some managers prefer to prepare for the future by drafting a few weeks late and assuming that the roster will undergo significant turnover before facing a roster shortage (or the year in which the decision will be made). You can also do a roster massage in the second half of the game (to get a deeper understanding of your player depth and team needs). Some managers accumulate byes and think they can punt some weeks but do well other weeks. Many managers draft with little or no consideration for bye weeks, but I don't think that's unreasonable in a decent league. You know your situation better than outsiders.
One thing I would consider is that please understand that this is a low-end tiebreaker and nothing else. The idea is to win some players with a “narrow bye”. That is, the only other player he is on a team that shares a bye with only one NFL club. Rostering these players means they won't be missed as much when they're off (he has 30 of his NFL teams playing that week) and they'll provide utility when the heavier byes begin. The idea is that they will do it for you. But you know the NFL, the Snow Globe League, and how quickly injuries and disruptions can happen. I'm not going to actively steer this idea. This is simply a way to break the equilibrium after some important factors have created a stalemate.
The Bears and Cowboys will share a narrow bye in Week 7. That doesn't mean DJ Moore will score 13 touchdowns or Ezekiel Elliott will find the fountain of youth in Dallas. It's just a small tiebreaker. The Steelers and Niners will share a narrow bye in Week 9.
One of my main fantasy goals is to get off to a good start and gain some influence. I like to play fantasy football using a microscope (focusing on what's right in front of you), but not necessarily a telescope (focusing on what's far away).
One thing I want to be clear about is that we're watching all of this with our telescopes right now, and we're about four months away from September. It's unclear which teams will suffer injuries before the first kickoff. But it's fun to imagine who will be in the spotlight in September, so let's consider such a schedule.
I calculate which teams have the easiest schedules and which teams have the hardest schedules based on the sum of their opponents' projected total wins (team over/under). did. This is a foolproof method and does not incorporate things like weather, schedule flow, coaching, home and road dates, or the perceived strength of a team's offense versus defense. All September opponents were expected to be like that, right? ” (Warren Sharp is undoubtedly the person who came up with this novel concept.)
With that in mind, here's a “simple” schedule for September (if you know it)
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Bengals: Patriots, Chiefs, Commanders, Panthers
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Jets: Niners, Titans, Patriots, Broncos
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Lions: Rams, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Seahawks
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Niners: Jets, Vikings, Rams, Patriots
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Chargers: Raiders, Panthers, Steelers, Chiefs
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Manager: Buccaneers, Giants, Bengals, Cardinals
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Seahawks: Broncos, Patriots, Dolphins, Lions
The Lions have three home games here, so that's great. Washington's start was softened somewhat by three road games. Following the Niners, the Jets will be targeting three inexperienced quarterbacks.
Using the same methodology, here's a “hard” schedule for September.
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Chiefs: Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Chargers
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Ravens: Chiefs, Raiders, Cowboys, Bills
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Patriots: At the Bengals.Seahawks vs. Jets, Niners
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Jaguars: Dolphins, Browns, Bills, Texans
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Falcons: Steelers, Eagles, Chiefs, Saints
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Vikings: Giants, Niners, Texans, Packers
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Titans: Bears, Jets, Packers, Dolphins
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Rams: Lions, Cardinals, Niners, Bears
The Patriots will probably lose big in their three road games. The Jaguars and Rams will also travel three times in September. At least the Chiefs can take credit for tying Baltimore and Cincinnati at home.
I'm not one to put a lot of stock into “easy” or “hard” fantasy playoff schedules. A lot will change leading up to Week 17. Again, this is the Snowglobe League. But if you're looking forward to a vacation, we've prepared a few rankings for your schedule. Hey gamers, this is all written in pencil.
“Simple” Week 15-17 schedule (weather not taken into account)
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Chargers: Buccaneers, Broncos, Patriots
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Colts: Broncos, Titans, Giants
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Cardinals: Patriots, Panthers, Rams
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Falcons: Raiders, Giants, Commanders
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Bengals: Titans, Browns, Broncos
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Packers: Rams, Dolphins, Lions
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Cowboys: Panthers, Buccaneers, Eagles
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Saints: Commanders, Packers, Raiders
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Jaguars: Jets, Raiders, Titans
The Falcons have the easiest overall schedule according to over-under calculations (see below), and that carries into December as well. Everyone wants to see what this offense will become now that Arthur Smith is gone and a legitimate quarterback (Kirk Cousins) has taken over.
“Hard” Week 15-17 schedule (weather not taken into account)
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Steelers: Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs
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Texans: Dolphins, Chiefs, Ravens
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Browns: Chiefs, Bengals, Dolphins
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Lions: Bills, Bears, Niners
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Dolphins: Texans, Niners, Browns
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Giants: Ravens, Falcons, Colts
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Niners: Rams, Dolphins, Lions
Barring a major twist, the Steelers will be the underdogs in all of these games. Maybe some knuckleball weather could make things a little better.
Maybe you want to know the whole enchilada, how a team's schedule is graded cumulatively from Week 1 to Week 17 based on the team's over-under. This has a lot of noise built in, but I'll give you the data if you want (a low total means a weak schedule, a high total means a tight schedule). For logical fantasy purposes, this truncates week 18. And once the season begins, this list will look comically skewed. That's the NFL way.I nod again warren sharphe was the first to introduce this sharp concept to the public.
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falcons 122
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charger 126
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bear 127
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jets 128
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saints 128
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bengals 130
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colts 130
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panthers 131
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commander 133
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dolphin 133
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Cardinals 133
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Giants 134
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broncos 134
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eagles 134
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chiefs 134
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buccaneers 135
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seahawks 136
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Raiders 136
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jaguars 136
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packers 137
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lions 138
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Niners 138
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Rams 138
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ravens 138
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browns 139
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cowboys 139
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titans 139
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vikings 139
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patriots 143
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steelers 144
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texans 144
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Bill 144
Whatever that means. The future remains unwritten. Draft like a champ today.