When bye weeks started to come into play in the early 1990s, we all hated it when we had to sit our stud players for even a game during the season. Looking back on an era when we played TD-only scoring, it seemed like star players were fewer and further between, so when they had to take a seat it just seemed to hurt more.

One of the true superstars of that era was Jerry Rice. For those too young to remember him in anything more than highlight videos, he had a 10-year run where he was the league leader in receiving yards and TDs 6 times, and not always in the same year. Only once during that run did he finish under double-digit TDs, and that was 9 in 1988. Every year he was well over 1,000 yards receiving, even hitting 1,848 yards and 15 TDs in 1995 at age 33. He was the #1 overall player in fantasy football many times during the run, even as a WR. There’s a reason he’s in the GOAT discussion in NFL history.

During those early ‘90s, our league devised a plan where the week before his bye, you could designate your player as a two-week starter. So if he scored for you, it carried over to the bye week. One of those years, Rice scored 3 TDs the week before the bye, and I was able to dominate multiple weeks, even though he only played once. I don’t think we did that for more than a year or two.

We’ve become a little more sophisticated in how we play fantasy football over the years, so people are often planning ahead for bye weeks. And if they don’t, they just hammer the waiver wire during weeks like this. I’ve seen and heard this week called the Bye-pacolypse, and it’s no joke. The Bills, Chargers, Cowboys, Steelers, Jaguars and Vikings are all sitting out this week. There are star players littered on those teams (even the Jags). So what do we do? Well, estamos aqui para servirlos. Here are players rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo leagues. Some solid matchups in here that could help you get over this really rough bye week. Vamonos, let’s get to Los Peekups! Salud!

QUARTERBACK
JAMEIS WINSTON @ SEA 
38%
The Seahawks are giving up 306.2 yards per game in the air and have allowed three different passers to surpass 300 yards. Winston has yet to hit that mark in what has been a conservative offense, but if you have any of the top QBs who are on a bye this week, this matchup could give you some big-play potential. Watch for some rain in Seattle because, well, it’s Seattle.

TUA TAGOVAILOA vs ATL
18%
OK, he got the first game back from injury out of the way, and he completed 33 of 47 passes for 329 yards, 2 TD & 1 INT. He looked pretty good, though many have looked good against the Jaguars’ secondary. Many also have looked good against the Falcons’ defense that is #29 against the QB. It’s a home game, too. If the Dolphins are going to start looking better as a team, good QB play can mask some of their ills, so it starts with Tua.

CARSON WENTZ @ SF
35%
Coming off the 402-yard performance on Monday Night Football, Wentz going for 223 yards and a pair of TDs seems pedestrian. The 49ers have been hit with the injury bug in the secondary and are #21 against the QB position. Both teams are best when they run the ball, though Wentz could take some shots in play action.

RUNNING BACK
J.D. MCKISSIC @ GB
42%
If you have Antonio Gibson on your roster, you need to spend some FAAB on McKissic. The nagging injuries are piling up for Gibson, and this past game against the Chiefs McKissic had only 2 fewer carries (10-8) and finished with 8 receptions for 65 yards. The Packers just gave up 112 yards to Khalil Herbert, so there will be yards to gain at Lambeau Field. Take a flyer on Jaret Patterson as well, because if Gibson misses time this could be a shared backfield. 

D’ERNEST JOHNSON vs DEN
3%
No bueno, on what’s going on in the Cleveland backfield. Kareem Hunt has gone on IR, and Nick Chubb has been ruled out for this upcoming Thursday night game vs the Broncos. Johnson or Demetric Felton would be next man up, and Felton has yet to have a rushing attempt this season. OK, Johnson has 3. Spend some FAAB on Johnson if you need to replace one of the many injured RBs out there – seriously, Zero RB truthers are laughing like the Joker right about now. Denver has been more lax against RBs of late, with Najee Harris rushing for 122 yards and the tandem of Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake going for 155 total yards in the past 2 weeks.

DEMETRIC FELTON vs DEN
9%
Muy interesante that Felton is rostered on more teams than Johnson going into this week. He did only get 2 targets last week, and caught them both for 14 yards. But in a week where Chubb and Hunt are both out, Felton should handle the passes out of the backfield against a Denver defense that gave up 68 combined receiving yards to Jacobs and Drake.

RHAMONDRE STEVENSON vs NYJ
11%
This is a speculative pick because Damien Harris came out of the game at one point with an injury – and Stevenson scored his first NFL TD. Harris came in with a rib injury designation. So just in case, grab Stevenson. On top of it, the Jets are #32 against the RB position, allowing 182.6 total yards to RBs (111.4 are just on the ground). 

WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END
T.Y. HILTON @ SF
39%
Hilton came back from the IR and caught all 4 targets for 80 yards, and now Parris Campbell may miss a good chunk – if not all – the season with a foot injury. So Hilton will slot in behind Michael Pittman Jr. in the target pecking order. As mentioned earlier, the 49ers are less than 100% in the secondary. Plus, take a peek at the next 3 games for the Colts (all home): Titans, Jets and Jaguars. This could be a multi-week flex starter for your team, especially in deeper leagues. Hilton did come out of the game with a quad injury, so something to monitor over the week.

RASHOD BATEMAN vs CIN
27%
In his NFL debut, Bateman ran the second-most WR routes on the Ravens behind Marquise Brown (29-22). So he’s going to get some usage, and as he gets more acclimated to the league he could become a bigger part of a passing attack that has been concentrated on Brown and TE Mark Andrews. The Bengals are giving up an average of 38.9 Fantasy PPG (#15) and 179.3 receiving yards to WRs this season. Aside from a 206-yard blowup from Davante Adams, the Bengals have been beaten up for 90+ receiving yards by Laviska Shenault, Chase Claypool and Adam Thielen. This is another pick for later in the season, should Bateman continue to show rookie improvement and live up to that NFL Draft hype.

MARQUEZ CALLAWAY @ SEA
34%
Callaway is just a couple weeks removed from catching 4 of 8 targets for 85 yards and 2 scores against Washington’s #32 secondary. Up next, Seattle’s #29 defense against WRs. Michael Thomas is not yet ready to rejoin the starting lineup, so plenty of targets will be out there for Callaway to potentially grab. Nice dart throw.

RICKY SEALS-JONES @ GB
29%
Here’s a wild prediction: This is the last week that RSJ is going to be on any waiver-wire shows or columns. I recommended him last week in a muy sabroso matchup against the Chiefs, and he delivered by catching 4 of 6 targets for 58 yards and a score. During the game RSJ ran one fewer route than Terry McLaurin (38-37), so the involvement is there. In a game where Washington is going to be throwing to keep up with the Packers, RSJ is a good bet to at the very least replicate his line from last week.

SOURCES: PFF / Pro Football Reference / Football Guys / NFL Savant / Football Outsiders