Now that the NFL Schedule has been released, we know how bye weeks will impact fantasy football. Every year, bye weeks frustrate fantasy players because of their bad timing. There’s always one week known as “Byemageddon,” when many star players are off. So, which bye weeks will be the toughest for fantasy managers to handle in 2025?
The Toughest NFL Bye Weeks For Fantasy Football Managers
The byes start in Week 5 this season and run through Week 14. The NFL is still doing that weird thing where Week 13 randomly has no byes, much to the frustration of fantasy managers, who are forced to contend with byes during the final week of the regular season.
While not the most challenging bye week, the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills are not playing in Week 7. As the only two teams on bye, fantasy managers will be alright. Still, managers will be without the consensus top two fantasy QBs right around the midpoint of the fantasy regular season.
The NFL did a much better job spacing out the byes this season. But there is always one week where we have six teams not playing. This year’s “Byemageddon” takes place in Week 8. Here are the teams getting the eighth week of the season off:
- Arizona Cardinals
- Detroit Lions
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Los Angeles Rams
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Seattle Seahawks
Easily the most challenging week for fantasy managers to navigate, we will be without a host of superstars. Among the absent will be WRs Marvin Harrison Jr., Amon-Ra St. Brown, Brian Thomas Jr., Travis Hunter, Puka Nacua, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
At running back, we’ll have to replace James Conner, Jahmyr Gibbs, David Montgomery, Kyren Williams, Ashton Jeanty, and Kenneth Walker III.
The consensus top two fantasy TEs won’t be in action at tight end, with Trey McBride and Brock Bowers getting the week off. We also won’t have Sam LaPorta.
Quarterback is where we get hit the least. Kyler Murray is the only top 12 QB among the teams on bye. However, viable QB2s and streaming candidates like Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Geno Smith, and perhaps Sam Darnold won’t be on the field, either.
Once we make it through Week 8, the next most challenging set of byes comes two weeks later. The NFL did not schedule six teams on bye any other week, but in Week 8, the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, and Tennessee Titans are on bye.
Losing the Titans isn’t a big deal, but the Bengals, Cowboys, and Chiefs pack some heavy hitters. Fantasy managers will need to fill in alternatives for Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Chase Brown, CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott, Patrick Mahomes, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Travis Kelce.
Overall, the bye week situation is better than last year. However, the NFL’s decision to pack six teams into the Week 8 group of byes while leaving Week 13 untouched makes that the toughest week for fantasy managers to deal with.