Fantasy Football Bye Week Strategy Guide for 2025: Planning Ahead In Week 1
Danny Cross lays the groundwork on our 2025 fantasy football bye week planning, outlining which weeks have more byes, strategy based on format, and more.
Fantasy football bye weeks are an unfortunate reality in our fake game, but there are plenty of creative ways to attack the 2025 NFL bye week schedule.
In this weekly article, we will look ahead to the coming bye weeks and plan for the corresponding depth issues they bring. From waiver wire pickups to trade strategies, staying ahead of our leaguemates as the bye weeks approach is critical. In Guillotine Leagues™, navigating the byes is a particularly crucial part of surviving the weekly chop, so we'll also examine the best FAAB strategies with byes in mind.
Let's take a look at the full bye week schedule and start planning for the fantasy football bye week blues in 2025.
2025 NFL Bye Weeks: Complete Schedule and Fantasy Football Guide
Here is the 2025 NFL bye week schedule, along with every player in the top 100 of our Fantasy Life rankings who will be unavailable in any given week.
Fantasy Football Bye Week Schedule for 2025
Fantasy Football Bye Week Notes
- Week 5: Caleb Williams stacks take note — Williams, DJ Moore and Rome Odunze take an early seat. Top RBs Bijan Robinson, Josh Jacobs and D'Andre Swift will be unavailable during this early, four-team bye week.
- Week 6: Only two teams on bye, but the Vikings have five players in the Fantasy Life top 100.
- Week 7: Two of the NFL's top offenses are off: Buffalo and Baltimore. Those rostering Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson will need to monitor the QB waiver wire early.
- Week 8: Bye-mageddon. With six teams on bye, Week 8 is by far the worst bye week of 2025 for fantasy football. Seven first- and second-round fantasy picks will hit the bench: Jahmyr Gibbs (Fantasy Life consensus rank: 6), Ashton Jeanty (11), Brian Thomas (12), Amon-Ra St. Brown (14), Puka Nacua (10), Kyren Williams (27) and Trey McBride (24). Managers who get off to a slow start should consider trading these players a week or two early for guys who have already had their byes.
- Week 9: The Browns and Jets shouldn't hurt too badly, but the Eagles and Buccaneers will test our depth.
- Week 10: Bengals, Cowboys, Chiefs, Titans … oof. Again, be aware of your trade deadline and shop your stars if desperate. But don't sweat one undermanned week if you're 7-2.
- Week 11: Anyone overloaded with Colts and Saints probably won't be paying attention to fantasy at this point.
- Week 12: Only four teams on bye, but we'll have over a dozen solid fantasy assets out, including QBs Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix, Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert.
- Week 14: Final week before the fantasy playoffs. Teams that need to win and get in will be without their 49ers, Giants, Panthers and Patriots. Christian McCaffrey and Malik Nabers could particularly hurt.
Position by Position Bye Week Notes
Quarterback: Potentially the most important position to plan ahead for during the bye weeks. Many fantasy managers leave the draft room with only a single QB, meaning you need to beat the competition for fill-in options when your QB1 is out.
Running Back: Roster depth at RB should cover most bye weeks with a serviceable replacement. If you're missing two RBs or more in a single bye week, you might want to consider the trade market ahead of time.
Wide Receiver: Like RB, we should have enough wide receivers to cover most bye weeks, but injuries can cause a shortage in a hurry. Fantasy managers should always be looking to add upside receivers and running backs via the waiver wire with an eye on the byes.
Tight End: Another onesie position that requires some strategy. Beat your opponents to any TE seeing solid utilization, even if the production hasn't shown up yet. Lean toward high-scoring offenses and red zone threats looking to stumble upon a spike week.
Guillotine Leagues™ Bye Week Strategy
Guillotine Leagues are a whole different animal when it comes to bye week planning.
In a Guillotine League, the fantasy team with the lowest score is chopped from the league every week—gone forever. If you don't plan ahead for the bye weeks, you'll be forced to overspend in FAAB to ensure your team doesn't take a massive step back when one of your top players is on a bye.
Still, there are ways to mitigate your risk and the cost in FAAB. The best way to manage bye weeks in a Guillotine League is to start adding players who can fill in for your stars as early as you can. There are two ways to do so:
- Pay up after Week 1 for the best player who does not share a bye week with one of your fantasy stars. Always keep your roster depth in mind, but if Ja'Marr Chase has a unique bye week and is available after Week 1 (and you need WRs), that could make spending a lot of FAAB early a solid strategy.
- Consistently spend money on mid-tier players who cover future bye weeks—and be opportunistic about replacing them with better players as you go. Sometimes under-the-radar waiver wire pickups yield huge rewards. By consistently churning the bottom of your roster with an eye toward bye weeks, you'll always have a solid foundation. When you eventually land a better player, you can drop the bye-week fill-in without torching much opportunity cost.
Guillotine League managers have to balance the need to stay alive one week at a time with the unpredictable nature of a full NFL season. Scoring the most points in Week 1 is worth exactly the same as scoring the second-least, so roster management is a constant battle between building a top-end roster and staying alive. Keeping the bye weeks in mind —or using them as a tiebreaker—helps you remain prepared for anything.
We'll be back in two weeks to see how Weeks 1 and 2 have affected the fantasy football bye week landscape. They'll be here sooner than you think …
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