Notable absent players during Week 5 byes

The NFL wraps up the first quarter of the schedule with the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. This brings with it the start of bye weeks, which run from Weeks 4 through 12. Ideally you planned accordingly with your roster, but if you’re like me, sometimes you just look for best player available regardless of bye conflict — it’s how I ended up with Lamar Jackson and Dak Prescott on my roster.

Each week we’ll take a look at the notable players you’ll need to replace each week over these nine weeks. The first two bye weeks feature some big names, but not an overwhelming number. Last week we had the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers. This week, we have the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins.

The Lions lost a heart-breaker to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, and are emerging as a fantasy presence. Matthew Stafford is off to a solid start this season, and he’s seeing big performances from wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones, among others. Rookie tight end T.J. Hockenson suffered a concussion in Week 4, so the bye comes at a perfect time.

Meanwhile, if you have Dolphins players on your roster, you might be in some trouble in your fantasy football league. Kenyan Drake and DeVante Parker are the two best options, but that’s not saying much. Mike Gesicki has yet to emerge as a fantasy option, and we’ll see if he can get going after the bye.

Detroit Lions

QB: Matthew Stafford
RB: Kerryon Johnson
WR: Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones, Danny Amendola
TE: T.J. Hockenson
K: Matt Prater

Miami Dolphins

QB: Josh Rosen
RB: Kenyan Drake, Mark Walton
WR: DeVante Parker, Preston Williams
TE: Mike Gesicki
K: Jason Sanders