Bye weeks shouldn't be a major concern when selecting a fantasy quarterback. But you should keep them in mind to avoid being left empty-handed when your QB1 is unavailable.
Consider this a preseason cheat sheet. It shows which quarterbacks you should target on the waiver wire in the weeks leading up to your starter's bye. We left out any passer in the top 20, assuming they'll be owned in the majority of leagues. We also flipped from veteran starters to first-round rookies after Week 8, expecting teams will make the switch around then.
When creating the lists, we took into account how the potential replacements should fare in 2018, how defenses performed against fantasy quarterbacks last year, and how those defenses may improve heading into 2018.
You can also view our 2018 bye-week cheat sheet here.
And our complete fantasy quarterback rankings here.
Week 4
Bye
Top Replacements
Cam Newton
Case Keenum vs. KC
Alex Smith
Tyrod Taylor at OAK
Eli Manning vs. NO
Mitch Trubisky vs. TB
Ryan Tannehill at NE
Sam Bradford vs. SEA
Week 5
Bye
Top Replacements
Jameis Winston
Case Keenum at NYJ
Mitch Trubisky
Blake Bortles at KC
Ryan Tannehill at CIN
Andy Dalton vs. MIA
Joe Flacco at CLE
Week 6
Bye
Top Replacements
Matthew Stafford
Mitch Trubisky at MIA
Drew Brees
Josh McCown vs. IND
Blake Bortles at DAL
Derek Carr vs. SEA
Week 7
Bye
Top Replacements
Aaron Rodgers
Case Keenum at ARI
Russell Wilson
Mitch Trubisky vs. NE
Ben Roethlisberger
Andy Dalton at KC
Derek Carr
Tyrod Taylor at TB
Ryan Tannehill vs. DET
Week 8
Bye
Top Replacements
Philip Rivers
Case Keenum at KC
Marcus Mariota
Eli Manning vs. WAS
Dak Prescott
Derek Carr vs. IND
Matt Ryan
Mitch Trubisky vs. NYJ
Andy Dalton vs. TB
Baker Mayfield at PIT
Josh Rosen vs. SF
Week 9
Bye
Top Replacements
Carson Wentz
Derek Carr at SF
Andrew Luck
Baker Mayfield vs. KC
Blake Bortles
Ryan Tannehill vs. NYJ
Eli Manning
Sam Darnold at MIA
Andy Dalton
Mitch Trubisky at BUF
Sam Bradford
Joe Flacco vs. PIT
Case Keenum vs. HOU
Week 10
Bye
Top Replacements
Deshaun Watson
Mitch Trubisky vs. DET
Kirk Cousins
Blake Bortles at IND
Case Keenum
Eli Manning at SF
Joe Flacco
Baker Mayfield vs. ATL
Ryan Tannehill at GB
Josh Rosen at KC
Sam Darnold vs. BUF
Week 11
Bye
Top Replacements
Tom Brady
Eli Manning vs. TB
Jimmy Garoppolo
Josh Rosen vs. OAK
Baker Mayfield
Derek Carr at ARI
Ryan Tannehill
Blake Bortles vs. PIT
Josh Allen
Joe Flacco vs. CIN
Sam Darnold
Andy Dalton at BAL
Case Keenum at LAC
Week 12
Bye
Top Replacements
Patrick Mahomes
Mitch Trubisky at DET
Jared Goff
Ryan Tannehill at IND
Baker Mayfield at CIN
Derek Carr at BAL
Blake Bortles at BUF
Joe Flacco vs. OAK
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