BYE weeks (1 Viewer)

[TenTimes]

It doesn't make sense to me

Why choose a guy you don't like as much for the sake of one week? Just figure that week with backups/ waiver wire, and then you have your top guy vs. #2 for 16 weeks plus only take a BYE hit at that position once, not twice.

I don't even know (or want to know) the BYE weeks when I am drafting. The only way I would consider it is at kicker or defense in a league where transactions cost a fee.

 

[shredhead]

It doesn't make sense to me

Why choose a guy you don't like as much for the sake of one week? Just figure that week with backups/ waiver wire, and then you have your top guy vs. #2 for 16 weeks plus only take a BYE hit at that position once, not twice.

I don't even know (or want to know) the BYE weeks when I am drafting. The only way I would consider it is at kicker or defense in a league where transactions cost a fee.

This is your answer. Although I rarely take a backup D, and never take a backup kicker. The only time I look at bye weeks is when I'm at the backup QB part of the draft.

 

[Coboney]

Also can be a tiebreaker if you have 2 guys who are very very similar as it can give you a slight advantage. Overall though you shouldn't be drafting with them largely in mind just make sure you aren't conflicting everywhere on a general sense.

 

[SSOG]

I start caring about bye weeks with my #3 QB, #4 RB, and #5 WR. If my #2 QB has the same bye as my #1, then I'm not going to take a THIRD QB with the same bye, as well- it seems silly. Your 3rd QB is never going to see the lineup unless your top 2 QBs are down and out, anyway, so a lesser-rated QB3 with no bye week conflict is worth more than a higher-rated QB3 who's out the only week you'd consider starting him. This has come up in one league I'm in, where my QB1 is Brady, my QB2 is Palmer, and the best QB left on the board, in my opinion, is Campbell. I'm not taking a lesser player as a result of the conflict, I'm just grabbing value players at other positions (because there are ALWAYS value players at other positions) until such a time as a QB who doesn't have a week 8 bye starts presenting himself as good value. Ditto that with my RB4 or WR5- if two or three of the guys in front of him have the same bye, I'll look to avoid that week unless someone presents insane value (not likely late in the draft, since everyone past round 12-13 is just a differing degree of crapshoot).

If I have a stud TE1, I'll also take byes into consideration with my TE2 (since he's only playing if the TE1 is on bye), but if I have a mid-level TE1 (an Owen Daniels or a Chris Cooley, for instance), then I won't worry about byes with my TE2. With my PK and Defense I never even think about byes, because the junk on waivers is generally as good as any PK2 or DEF2 I might consider rostering.

I never worry about byes across positions. If my QB1, RB1, RB2, WR1, WR2, WR3, and TE1 are all out on the same week, then so be it. That week's pretty much a guaranteed loss, but I'll be the only guy in the league who doesn't have a single player on bye in any of the 7 other bye weeks, so I figure I'll make up at least one win somewhere down the line.

 

[Casting Couch]

I don't ever look at BYE weeks while drafting. It clouds my judgment.

I'll take the top talent that fits my team, then if I have conflicts, I'll either pick up some BYE week fill, or make a trade.

 

[doogiej]

Reading too much into bye weeks is a waste of time if you ask me. I'll take the top guy on my board regardless of bye week.

 

[SSOG]

Reading too much into bye weeks is a waste of time if you ask me. I'll take the top guy on my board regardless of bye week.

Always? Even if it's your QB4 and your top 3 QBs all have the same bye week? Even if it's a deep league where there's never any quality talent available on waivers? Even if it's a no-trade league?Grabbing lesser players because you're afraid of a little bye-week conflict is folly... but ignoring bye weeks entirely is also folly. A player's bye is just information, and more information is never in itself a bad thing- it's what we do with that information that gets us into trouble.

 

[puckalicious]

Well for small rosters it is kind of important - you usually can't afford to add/drop more than 1 player at a time unless you want to lose a quality guy you drafted. I agree with SSOG about not caring across positions, but within each position I try to make sure my top 2 players are on different bye weeks. But if someone drops and has crazy value and a shared bye week oh well I'll take the hit.

On a related note, has anyone tried drafting an "all bye" team where most if not all starters have the same bye? Was it successful?

 

[SSOG]

Well for small rosters it is kind of important - you usually can't afford to add/drop more than 1 player at a time unless you want to lose a quality guy you drafted. I agree with SSOG about not caring across positions, but within each position I try to make sure my top 2 players are on different bye weeks. But if someone drops and has crazy value and a shared bye week oh well I'll take the hit.On a related note, has anyone tried drafting an "all bye" team where most if not all starters have the same bye? Was it successful?

I had a team once where my QB1, RB1, WR2, WR3, and TE1 were all on bye at the same time (as well as one or two of my backup WRs who I normally would have inserted in to cover byes). I didn't try for it to happen, but I didn't do anything to stop it once I noticed it happening. I actually wound up winning the week everyone was on bye because my QB2 and RB2 both went off and by RB3 and WR1 had decent games as well. I'd never actively try to compile an "all bye" team, because you're passing up on too much value by fixating on a single bye week.

 

[stevegamer]

I was in a uber-tight bench league last year, and bye week management was important, but not at TE/PK/DF, since we were required to carry 2. Yep, there were fixed rosters. Unfortunately, we had a total of 3 WR's & 3 RB's. So if you don't pay attention to bye weeks there, you end up short, since you've got 2 starting spots and only one (or zero) players to fill it. Also, injuries could screw with you, since there was no provision for that.

And obviously, byes matter in and draft & go leagues where there are no transactions, especially survivor.