How do you leverage late bye weeks in your fantasy draft?

Question

Week 9 byes: Panthers, Saints, Chargers, 49ers

Week 10 byes: Ravens, Cowboys, Buccaneers, Redskins

Do you pick up a TE, K or D from these teams and forego picking up a backup during the draft, figuring you can find a bye week replacement on the waiver wire over the first 8 weeks of the season?

Answer 1

Hi jbrandtc,

Personally, this is a factor that I don't give much weight on draft day.  When I draft, I'm looking at the top player in each of my respective tiers and asking myself which position makes the most sense to target.  So many different things can happen during a fantasy season (trades, injuries, etc) that you can't assume that any player will last through 10 weeks of the NFL season anyway, so this theory doesn't carry much weight.  

Because of this, you should be focusing purely on talent and not on which team has a late bye week.  IMO, that is digging just a little too deep.  I like the idea in theory, but in practice the chances are great that your roster will look much different in week 10 than right after the draft, so focus on the here-and-now and pick the player who can help you win immediately.

In regards to kickers and defenses, I encourage people not to draft either if you don't have to (especially if you draft early in the pre-season).  The logic behind this says that instead of drafting a kicker or defense (positions you will likely add/drop routinely during the season) stock up on skill positions (RB,WR).  This allows you some wiggle room during the preseason for injuries and positional battles that may occur.

For instance, let's say your #3 receiver gets shot outside of a trendy strip club in Vegas right before the season begins.  Rather than going to the waiver-wire you'll already have another WR stored deep on your roster.  Let's say instead of picking up the Chiefs DEF/ST in Round 12, you draft a RB who is battling for more carries.   If that RB ends up winning a starting job, you can always drop another RB and in this way to increased your options.  

Right before the season begins, you can drop your two worst players and pick up your DEF and K and its no skin off of your back because you shouldn't have drafted those positions until the last 2 rounds anyway.

If you click on the link in my source list, I explain this theory a little more clearly on my Kicker Rankings page.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I prefer to draft as many of my players as possible into the late bye weeks so that there's time to trade and leave another manager holding the player when the bye week comes up.