The 2023 NFL schedule has officially been released, giving fantasy football fans their first glimpse at the all-important bye weeks for the 2023 NFL season.
Find out which teams drew the dreaded Week 14 bye week and which quarterbacks to pair with the top options in best ball formats.
NFL Bye Weeks by Week, 2023:
| Week | Teams On Bye |
|---|---|
| 5 | Browns, Chargers, Seahawks, Buccaneers |
| 6 | Packers, Steelers |
| 7 | Panthers, Bengals, Cowboys, Texans, Jets, Titans |
| 8 | None |
| 9 | Broncos, Lions, Jaguars, 49ers |
| 10 | Chiefs, Rams, Dolphins, Eagles |
| 11 | Falcons, Colts, Patriots, Saints |
| 12 | None |
| 13 | Ravens, Bills, Bears, Raiders, Vikings, Giants |
| 14 | Cardinals, Commanders |
NFL Bye Weeks by Team, 2023:
| Team | Bye Week |
|---|---|
| 49ers | Week 9 |
| Bears | Week 13 |
| Bengals | Week 7 |
| Bills | Week 13 |
| Broncos | Week 9 |
| Browns | Week 5 |
| Buccaneers | Week 5 |
| Cardinals | Week 14 |
| Chargers | Week 5 |
| Chiefs | Week 10 |
| Colts | Week 11 |
| Commanders | Week 14 |
| Cowboys | Week 7 |
| Dolphins | Week 10 |
| Eagles | Week 10 |
| Falcons | Week 11 |
| Giants | Week 13 |
| Jaguars | Week 9 |
| Jets | Week 7 |
| Lions | Week 9 |
| Packers | Week 6 |
| Panthers | Week 7 |
| Patriots | Week 11 |
| Raiders | Week 13 |
| Rams | Week 10 |
| Ravens | Week 13 |
| Saints | Week 11 |
| Seahawks | Week 5 |
| Steelers | Week 6 |
| Texans | Week 7 |
| Titans | Week 7 |
| Vikings | Week 13 |
Which NFL teams are on bye Week 14?
The Cardinals and Commanders are on bye in Week 14.
Week 14 is the first round of the fantasy playoffs in some formats. Players on the Cardinals and Commanders will not be available for one of the most important weeks on the fantasy football schedule in those leagues.
Notable Fantasy Players on the Cardinals:
Kyler Murray, James Conner, DeAndre Hopkins, Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore, Zach Ertz, Trey McBride
Notable Fantasy Players on the Commanders:
Brian Robinson, Antonio Gibson, Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel
Bye Week Pairings for Top Quarterbacks, 2023 Fantasy Football:
Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Fields — Bye Week 13
Kyler Murray is an interesting second option for any quarterback with a late bye. While his Week 14 bye is less than ideal, Murray should return to the field well before Week 13 even if the Cardinals take it slow in what appears to be a rebuilding season.
Deshaun Watson probably costs a little too much to pair with Allen, but in Week 13 he faces a Rams defense that looks weak across the board and especially in the secondary following the Jalen Ramsey trade. Watson was bad last season. It is reasonable to assume he will improve following a full offseason, but he comes with a lot of risk given his late-QB1 cost.
Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts — Bye Week 10
As mentioned above, Murray should be ready to play by Week 10, and while pace is always a concern against the Falcons, it looks like a good matchup.
Aaron Rodgers’ fantasy upside is questionable given the coaching staff in New York and the quality of the defense, but he gets what looks like a good matchup against a Raiders team that gave up the fifth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks last season and has not gotten much better this offseason.
Joe Burrow — Bye Week 7
Geno Smith continues to look like a screaming value. He finished as the QB9 in per-game scoring last season when the Seahawks were 1.5% over their expected pass rate (8th). Now they have added Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round, suggesting they will continue to lean into a more pass-heavy attack. Smith has a great matchup against the Cardinals in Week 7.
Justin Herbert — Bye Week 5
After spending all of 2022 in high-scoring games, the Vikings could find themselves in a shootout against the Chiefs in Week 5. Kirk Cousins flashed his ceiling with seven games of 20 or more fantasy points last season including one 30-point game. This is the type of game that could draw out one of those ceiling efforts from Cousins.
The top two rookie quarterbacks have good matchups early in the season. Bryce Young gets a game against a Lions secondary that has improved this offseason but remains questionable. C.J. Stroud faces off against a Falcons secondary that looks weak even after adding Jessie Bates. Young has no receivers. Stroud’s pass catchers are not much better, and the Falcons will try to take the air out of the ball as much as possible. Still, the matchups look good on paper.
