Football is a grueling sport, so the injuries pile up throughout an 18-week season. While the NBA, MLB, and NHL can get away with playing multiple games every week, there’s a reason NFL teams can only play one contest a week.
Bye weeks provide each team with an opportunity to recover and recharge so they can finish the season strong. Believe it or not, we’ve already reached the point in the 2024 NFL season when bye weeks are starting. Which teams will be on bye this week?
Make sure to check out our entire NFL Bye Week Schedule to find out exactly when every single team will get their week off.
Four NFL Teams on Bye in Week 5
The Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Tennessee Titans have a bye week in Week 5.
The earliest the NFL has scheduled bye weeks is in Week 4, but that was during the 16-game (17-week) seasons. In 2021 and 2022, bye weeks didn’t start until Week 6. Last season, the NFL began having bye weeks in Week 5, allowing them to have a week in the middle of the season with no teams on a bye. That’s the case once again this season.
The following fantasy football options won’t be available this week:
Detroit Lions
Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta
Los Angeles Chargers
Justin Herbert, J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Ladd McConkey, Joshua Palmer
Philadelphia Eagles
Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert
Tennessee Titans
Will Levis, Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears, Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, Chigoziem Okonkwo
Why Are Early Bye Weeks Controversial?
An early bye week is typically viewed as a disadvantage, particularly if a team is on bye in Week 5. After all, these squads will have to play 13 games in a row plus (potentially) the playoffs without a break to finish out the season. The four teams with the earliest bye week last season all stumbled in the latter part of the season:
- Chargers: Five straight losses to end the season
- Seahawks: Four straight losses in Weeks 11-14
- Buccaneers: Four straight losses post-bye
- Browns: 45-14 playoff loss at Houston
As you can see, the Chargers are dealing with a Week 5 bye for the second consecutive season.
However, the early bye works out for some teams. For example, the Eagles are currently dealing with a ton of injuries to key players (including their top three wide receivers), so they likely don’t mind the early break.
"I think the bye week is probably at a good time for the Eagles..
They've lost ten of their last thirteen games..
They've gotta play better defense and they gotta stop turning the ball over" ~ Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/3kXr6fywu5
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 30, 2024
The others likely would’ve preferred a bye later in the season, but they’ll have to take what the NFL schedule-makers assigned them.
When Do NFL Bye Weeks End?
The latest the NFL will schedule a bye week is in Week 14. Previously, byes would stop in Week 13, but with the expansion to 17 games, the NFL naturally pushed the final set of byes back one week.
This season, the teams with the latest bye week are the Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, and Washington Commanders.
How Many Teams Can Be on a Bye at the Same Time?
Generally, there are either two, four, or six teams on a bye at the same time. That number always has to be an even number, and rarely does the NFL go higher than six teams. Taking three games out of a 16-game schedule can leave the week feeling bare, especially when there are already at least three prime-time games in each game week.
Any more than six teams on a bye would leave the NFL with just nine games in their traditional 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday windows, which would not be ideal for their broadcast partners.
Also, having eight or more teams on a bye in one week would cause an imbalance in the schedule by forcing more games into other bye weeks and leaving a TV schedule that feels overloaded on those weeks.
In 2022, six teams were on bye in Week 14, which was a nightmare for fantasy football players, as that is the final week of the fantasy regular season. It put many fantasy owners in a roster-setting bind. In 2023, just two teams were on bye in the final week of the fantasy regular season.
Unfortunately, the 2024 season will once again feature six teams on bye in Week 14.
Who Are Some Fantasy Options You Can Pivot To This Week?
As a caveat to this list, please understand that we cannot possibly account for the individual team needs of everyone reading this. If you have five viable wide receivers, but only one startable running back, you should probably prioritize the running back.
Consider this the order in which fantasy managers should add these players assuming their roster is full of holes and needs the best players available, regardless of position. All roster percentages are in parenthesis and taken from Yahoo.
1) Dontayvion Wicks, WR, Green Bay Packers (13%)
Perhaps you are like me. You drafted Dontayvion Wicks in many leagues but dropped him after he had zero catches in two of his first three games. You’re certainly kicking yourself now. I know I am.
Wicks is this week’s top waiver wire add because of his upside. Most waiver adds are fill-in running backs or floor-based wide receivers. Not Wicks.
With Christian Watson out, Wicks operated as a staple in three-receiver sets. He commanded 13 targets, catching five for 78 yards and two touchdowns. He ran a route on 80% of Jordan Love’s dropbacks.
We know the talent is there. He just needs the opportunity, which now might be there as well. There’s a chance when Watson returns and Wicks goes back to being an unstartable rotational piece. But fantasy managers don’t have the luxury of waiting. Grab Wicks now and bet on the talent.
2) Xavier Legette, WR, Carolina Panthers (14%)
I will be the first to admit I wasn’t super high on Xavier Legette as a prospect. A five-year college player who didn’t break out until his super senior year? That’s gonna be a no from me, dawg.
While I will fade those types of players almost every time, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t change our opinion based on new evidence. Legette played 87% of the offensive snaps in his first game following Adam Thielen’s hamstring strain. He ran a route on 88% of Andy Dalton’s dropbacks and caught six passes for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Xavier Legette's FIRST career TD!
📺: #CINvsCAR on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/x8NFnvD1fY— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024
I have no idea if he’s the real deal. But he’s a rookie without a proven, capped ceiling. What if he’s an outlier? That’s a gamble worth taking.
3) Kareem Hunt, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (35%)
NFL teams often go with what they know. It’s why old veterans will often play ahead of young, unproven rookies. The Kansas City Chiefs did not roster Kareem Hunt when the season started because they trusted Isiah Pacheco. But with Pacheco out, the same trust just isn’t there in Carson Steele.
It took Hunt all of one game to wrest the lead-back role away from the rookie fullback. Hunt carried the ball 14 times for 69 yards while also adding two receptions for 16 yards through the air. He led the backfield in snaps in his first game active.
Do not delude yourself into thinking 2017 Hunt is ever coming back. But if he’s getting 15 opportunities a game, he’s going to be startable.
4) Wan’Dale Robinson, WR, New York Giants (26%)
Here is your classic safe, floor play waiver pickup. I don’t mean that to diminish Wan’Dale Robinson’s value. I have plenty of teams (read: all of them) that could use Robinson’s production every week, especially with bye weeks coming up.
The reason Robinson isn’t higher is because of the lack of upside. But the floor has been really nice and really useful.
Robinson has now scored 9.8 fantasy points in every game this season. On Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys, he caught 11 passes for 71 yards. Inefficient? Yes. Useful? Also, yes.
Robinson is the clear WR2 for the New York Giants and needs to be rostered in far more leagues.