Fantasy QB Carousel—Bye Week Fill-Ins

Bye weeks don't start until Week 4, but I'm writing this now for those yet to draft, or for those who don't want to wait until the last minute to find a viable bye week QB replacement. Once the regular season is underway, Top Fantasy Football will keep this list updated as quarterbacks get injured or someone new emerges unexpectedly, like Matt Cassel last year.

You can see our most recent QB rankings here, but the top 12 are Brees, P. Manning, Brady, Rivers, Rodgers, Cutler, Palmer, Romo, McNabb, Schaub, Ryan, and Warner.

Guys outside of top 12 QB rankings that I recommend grabbing as a back up during the draft are Matt Hasselbeck, David Garrard, Ben Roethlisberger, and Brett Favre. If you miss out on one of them, I would not waste roster space on a second QB until your Bye Week unless you’re in a deep league with bench space to spare. Grab depth elsewhere for trade and injury purposes.

Teams that gave up the most points to opposing quarterbacks in 2008:

	Team	Total Yds to QB	Total TDs to QB	Avg. Fantasy Points Surrendered to QB per game(standard settings)
1	Arizona Cardinals	3,858	37	21.9
2	Seattle Seahawks	4,455	25	20.7
3	San Diego Chargers	4,241	26	20.5
4	New York Jets	4,140	25	19.9
5	Detroit Lions	3,987	27	19.7
6	Houston Texans	3,786	26	19.2
7	Jacksonville Jaguars	3,918	25	18.9
8	Atlanta Falcons	3,987	22	18.9
9	New Orleans Saints	3,891	23	18.9
10	Miami Dolphins	4,036	21	18.8
11	Kansas City Chiefs	3,966	22	18.6
12	New England Patriots	3,571	27	18.4
13	Chicago Bears	4,088	22	18.4
14	San Francisco 49ers	3,748	24	18.2
15	Cincinnati Bengals	3,514	24	17.6
16	St. Louis Rams	3,783	21	17.6

Of the 16 teams listed above, I expect the Jets, Patriots, and Bears to be significantly improved on defense this season, but that leaves 13 teams to pick on. So here are the bye weeks for the top ranked QBs for 10-12 team leagues, and suggestions for who you might look at as plug and play QB options when your signal caller’s out.

Week 4—Kurt Warner, Matt Ryan, Jake Delhomme, and Donovan McNabb. If you need a replacement for Jak,e you’re in trouble anyway, but let’s see who else might make a good fill in for any of the other three.

Top Options—Ben Roethlisberger faces the San Diego defense at home, Eli Manning faces Kansas City, Mark Sanchez faces the Saints, Shaun Hill faces St. Louis, and Trent Edwards faces Miami.

Week 5—Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers. Three of the top five QBs are off this week.

Top Options—Joe Flacco faces Cincinnati, Ben Roethlisberger is at Detroit, Brett Favre is at St. Louis, Mark Sanchez is at Miami, David Garrard is at Seattle, and conversely Matt Hasselbeck is facing the Jags.

Week 6—Tony Romo, Peyton Manning, Chad Pennington, and Shaun Hill. Only Manning and Romo should need a bye replacement.

Top Options—Matt Hasselbeck faces Arizona (this would be my pick), Roethlisberger is at Cleveland, Eli Manning is at New Orleans, and David Garrard and Marc Bulger face off in Jacksonville.

Week 7—None of the top dozen QBs are off this week.

Week 8—Tom Brady, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger, Jason Campbell, Byron Leftwich and Matt Cassell. Only Brady, Palmer, and perhaps Roethlisberger will need bye replacements this week.

Top Options—Jake Delhomme is at Arizona, Mark Sanchez faces Miami, JaMarcus Russell could surprise at San Diego, and Brett Favre will be at Green Bay; while the Pack is not a defensive let down, you can bet Favre will be on his game.

Week 9—Another week with no top 12 QBs on a bye.

Week 10—Only Eli Manning and Matt Schaub are off this final bye week, and only Schaub should need a fill in.

Top Options—Matt Hasselbeck at Arizona (cha-ching), Roethlisberger faces Cincinnati, and Favre faces Detroit.

One trick I’ve used over the years when I draft a QB with an early bye week, is to grab a solid back-up (you’ll note this season, seven of the top 12 QBs have bye weeks very early). As soon as I’ve used that back-up for my bye week, he’s traded and gone to a desperate owner. If I draft a late bye week QB, I generally skip a back-up QB until I need one. Bench space is pivotal in fantasy football for snagging upside RB and WR talent.

Don’t pick your QB based on bye weeks, but it’s handy information to have during your draft and trade talks!

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Is all this information giving your brain fantasy overload? Not to fear, Top Fantasy Football will help you make easier choices all season long with their Dominator Service. Check it out.