Notable absent players during Week 9 byes in 2022 NFL season

Week 9 of the NFL season arrives and with it comes the largest number of teams on bye so far this season. A total of six teams will be absent from the slate this week, and with the teams left on the schedule comes some noteworthy player absences as well.

Two of the league’s leading rushers in Nick Chubb and Saquon Barkley will not take the field this week as the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants sit out on the bye week. Chubb (740 rushing yards) and Barkley (726 rushing yards) lead the NFL as the first and second-leading rushers respectively. Those two are accompanied by a number of other noteworthy tailbacks in Christian McCaffrey and Ezekiel Elliot, who will also be left off this week’s slate of action due to the bye week.

The absence of the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers also means that two of the NFL’s best defenses will be left off the schedule. Dallas is allowing the second-fewest points to their opponents (14.9 PPG), while the 49ers are not far behind in allowing the ninth-fewest points to opposing teams (19.0 PPG). Their nonappearance on the schedule also means notable wideouts CeeDee Lamb and Deebo Samuel will be off this week.

Here is the list of all the teams on bye in Week 9 and the noteworthy players absent as a result.

Cleveland Browns

RB Nick Chubb
WR Amari Cooper
RB Kareem Hunt

Dallas Cowboys

WR CeeDee Lamb
RB Ezekiel Elliot
QB Dak Prescott

Denver Broncos

WR Jerry Jeudy
WR Courtland Sutton
QB Russell Wilson

New York Giants

RB Saquon Barkley
QB Daniel Jones
WR Darius Slayton

Pittsburgh Steelers

RB Najee Harris
QB Kenny Pickett
WR George Pickens

San Francisco 49ers

WR Deebo Samuel
RB Christian McCaffrey
TE George Kittle