Fantasy Football Strategy: Staggering Bye Weeks for Your Players

Most fantasy football magazines and online fantasy football draft sites like yahoo and foxsports.com have something telling the player's bye week somewhere near the player's name.

That information is there for a reason, fantasy football team owners! Use it. If you are in a cutthroat, root-hog-or-die fantasy football league, the only kind to be in in my book, having too many players with the same bye week can mean a certain loss.

That loss could be the difference between making your fantasy league's playoffs and sitting it out and watching figure skating the rest of the winter.

I often pass over a player at a position who I would prefer to take, just because his bye week is the same as another player or two's week off I already have at his position.

You don't even want too many players having the same bye week at other positions either. I don't have more than 2-3 players with any one bye week. If I ever get the urge to trade in fantasy football, as discussed in another article earlier, I usually just go lie down until the feeling passes.

The one legitimate reason for trading in fantasy football is due to overlooking players' bye weeks and having too many players with the same week off. The only time trading makes much sense in fantasy football is when trading a player for another player at the same position with a different bye week due to too many players being inactive the same week.

However, that problem can be avoided by researching before your fantasy football league draft and making sure to know each player's bye week before the draft begins. Don't draft more than two players with the same bye at a position. Ideally, it's better to have only one player at each postion with the same bye.

It seems like a small thing, but you'd be surprised at how many fantasy football team owners make the mistake of having too many players off the same week.

I guess maybe they assume that everyone's team is like that too, but if you avoid this trap it gives you a distinct advantage that week. Winning that week could be the deciding factor in making the playoffs later or having a good seed where you don't have to play your top competitor until the championship game in your fantasy football league.

Next: selecting a kicker and team defense/special teams in your fantasy football draft.