If you’re like most football fans, one of the last things you want to think about are bye weeks. By definition they mean enduring a week where your favorite team is idle. That sentence alone gives me a sense of withdrawal.
Of course, if you’re a fantasy football owner, you have no choice but to think about byes – Constantly. Whether it’s by not drafting too many starters/backups with the same week off or by juggling your idle players in-season, there’s no avoiding the dreaded bye weeks. Simply put, you never want to lose a game because you didn’t properly prepare for byes.
Below is a weekly breakdown of this year’s byes to serve as a helpful guide. We also have a separate area for 2012 Bye Weeks by Team and our Consensus Rankings have noted each player’s bye as a reference.
2012 NFL Bye Weeks
| Week | Teams |
| 1 | None |
| 2 | None |
| 3 | None |
| 4 | Indianapolis, Pittsburgh |
| 5 | Dallas, Detroit, Oakland, Tampa Bay |
| 6 | Carolina, Chicago, Jacksonville, New Orleans |
| 7 | Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego |
| 8 | Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Houston |
| 9 | New England, New York Jets, San Francisco, St. Louis |
| 10 | Arizona, Cleveland, Green Bay, Washington |
| 11 | Minnesota, New York Giants, Seattle, Tennessee |
| 12 | None |
| 13 | None |
| 14 | None |
| 15 | None |
| 16 | None |
| 17 | None |
