Fantasy Mistake: Caring about Bye Weeks | Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast
In the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast, Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens share some common mistakes made by fantasy managers. Today’s mistake: caring about Bye Weeks.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
MATT HARMON: We're going to tell you how to avoid some common mistakes that-- I mean, Andy, I know I've made some of these mistakes before. Everybody makes these mistakes when drafting teams. I'm going to let you go first with your initial big mistake that people make.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, my first one is pretty basic. It's very 101. The idea that you can just plot out your entire season and you care a lot about bye weeks when you're building your team, it's crazy to me. The idea that you can plan for your quarterbacks bye week in November is just nuts.
You can't. Like, you absolutely can't. This is a-- you're just doing damage to your team when you-- like, I guarantee that three years ago when Lamar Jackson had that crazy breakout season, one of the greatest seasons in the history of his position, I guarantee there's people who didn't draft Lamar Jackson, because, oh, his bye week didn't line up with my starting quarterback-- like Aaron Rodgers or Ben Roethlisberger or whoever. Right? And that was just a big flaming mistake.
MATT HARMON: Oh, boy.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah. Like, I mean, that's just a big flaming mistake. Like, your draft is this one opportunity that you have to just collect as much talent as possible. There's never another chance like this. And, you know, you should be reaching selectively.
But like, of all things, you should not be thinking about, oh, man, when it comes to-- to, you know, that week 10, my quarterback's going to be on a bye. I can't have this guy. My tight end is going to be on a bye. I can't have this guy.
No. You should just draft as much talent as you can. And realize that, like, you know, we're going to be a couple of weeks into the season. And two of your guys haven't even played. You're going to drop them. Two other guys are going to be injured. You're going to drop them.
You might have another guy who's suspended for six games. You might have another guy who's, like, a part-timer and, eh, do I hold out? Like, you're going to-- you're going to flip so much of your roster. The idea that you can just make these plans well ahead of time is just silly. It never works out that way.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, I think expecting chaos is always a good thing. And I actually like the way you frame the draft as this is your one big chance to collect talent. Because I think they view it as, like, filling out a roster, right?
Like-- like, all right, I've got to get my starting positions at each. It's like, no, you want to collect the best talent on your team, because things are going to go crazy at some point. I mean, that's kind of-- kind of the whole theory behind zero-RB is, like, running backs are super fragile. Like, wide receivers are antifragile. You know, and regardless of what you think. I mean, we know what Derrick Henry thinks about zero-RB but, like--
ANDY BEHRENS: [LAUGHS]
MATT HARMON: Regardless of what you think about, like, the strategy of zero-RB, that is kind of the principle of it. And that it true, that chaos will hit at some point. And like, you're not going to-- your number two receiver is not going to necessarily need-- your fourth guy doesn't need to not have the same bye week. Like, who cares? But people get really-- people get really hung up on that still. So I think it's a good call out.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, people-- people focus on-- like, I'm in leagues with people-- you know, these are more like college buddy leagues, old workplace leagues where I know these people have been playing for 20 years, and they still talk about bye weeks in the draft room. And I don't like to-- I don't like to correct it, because, hey, they're-- you know, they're paying to get in this league. And that's to my benefit if you really care that much about bye weeks, and you really care that much about backing up your tight end, but it's wild to me that people do this.
