NFL Week 10 Bye Planner: Caleb Williams, Saquon Barkley, Bucky Irving and Bo Nix Are Off as Bears, Eagles, Buccaneers and Broncos Rest

The Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are all on bye in Week 10, which takes Caleb Williams, D'Andre Swift, Saquon Barkley, Bucky Irving, Bo Nix and Jonah Coleman off the board next weekend. Four teams is a manageable number on its own. The problem is what comes right after: six more teams, including Green Bay, New England and the Rams, sit in Week 11. Managers who wait until Tuesday's waiver run to react will be bidding against everyone else for the same handful of players.

This planner lays out who is off, what the Week 10 slate looks like and which players to stash now, before Sunday's games inflate their prices.

Who is on bye in Week 10

Here are the fantasy-relevant players who will not play from November 12 through November 16.

The running back losses hurt most. Swift has already reached a career-high double-digit rushing touchdown total and is reportedly the only player with two three-touchdown games this season, while Irving and Coleman have both become weekly starters over the last month. Barkley has been playing through hamstring and back problems on a limited snap share, but most managers still start him. The Bears and Broncos defenses, two of the more popular streaming options, are also off.

The Week 11 squeeze is the real problem

Week 10 is not the hard week. Week 11 is. The NFL's bye schedule has six teams off that week: the Falcons, Browns, Packers, Rams, Patriots and Seahawks. That removes Jordan Love, who leads the league in passing yards, along with Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Bijan Robinson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Week 12 has no byes at all.

That changes how to use the waiver wire this week. A player who fills a Week 10 hole and then plays again in Week 11 is worth more than a one-week rental, especially for teams that have Bears or Buccaneers starters and Packers or Rams starters on the same roster. Check your lineup for both weeks now and identify the positions where you will be short twice.

The Week 10 slate

Fourteen games are scheduled, starting with Commanders at Giants on Thursday night and ending with Chargers at Ravens on Monday. Two scheduling notes matter for lineup locks: the Patriots and Lions play in Munich at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, and Thursday night means anyone in that game locks four days early.

Early lookahead lines have Buffalo favored by about a touchdown at the Jets and Kansas City a short favorite in Atlanta. Those numbers will move after Sunday's results, so treat them as a guide to game environments rather than something to bet now.

Stash targets by position

Quarterback: Tyler Shough (Saints) vs. Carolina. Shough has climbed steadily on rest-of-season boards, and the Panthers allowed 27 and 43 points in the two games before Week 9. New Orleans also gets left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. back this week and adds rookie receiver Jordyn Tyson. He is the cleanest one-week replacement for Williams, Nix or Mayfield, and he does not have a Week 11 bye.

Running back: Ollie Gordon II (Dolphins) at Indianapolis. Gordon has led Miami's backfield since De'Von Achane's knee injury in late September, and Jaylen Wright is out again this week with a quad injury. If Wright's injury lingers, Gordon is a volume RB2 in Week 10. Tyler Allgeier (Cardinals) against the Rams is the other option: he ran for 147 yards and a touchdown in Week 8 after Jeremiyah Love got hurt, and Love has since landed on injured reserve. Alvin Kamara gets Carolina in Week 10 and is a solid one-week start for anyone who rosters him on a bench.

Wide receiver: Antonio Williams (Commanders) at the Giants. Terry McLaurin is out for the season with a torn patellar tendon, and Williams is the receiver most likely to absorb his targets behind Stefon Diggs. The Thursday-night slot is a drawback if you need to make a decision after Sunday's games, so decide early. Adonai Mitchell (Jets) is the higher-variance alternative: he had 142 yards in Week 8 and is the Jets' top option while Garrett Wilson recovers from a concussion, but the Bills are a tough Week 10 matchup.

Tight end: Pat Freiermuth (Steelers) at Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is on bye this week, which means Freiermuth is sitting on many waiver wires. The Bengals had allowed 88.7 receiving yards per game to tight ends through Week 8, per RotoBaller, which makes this one of the best tight end matchups of the week. He is the top replacement for Loveland or Otton managers. Gunnar Helm (Titans) against Jacksonville is the deeper alternative.

Streaming defenses

The Bears and Broncos defenses are both off, so streaming defense managers need a plan. Buffalo at the Jets is the obvious choice, with the Bills favored by about a touchdown in early lines against a Jets team that entered Week 9 at 2-6. The Bills play Miami in Week 11, which makes them a two-week hold. Miami at Indianapolis is a deep option: RotoBaller noted the Dolphins defense was rostered in about 1% of Yahoo leagues, and Colts quarterback Daniel Jones had thrown nine interceptions entering Week 9.

What to do in your league

Make claims tonight if your league runs continuous waivers, or rank them now for Tuesday. The players above will be more expensive once Sunday's games are in the books. Prioritize in this order if you have Bears, Eagles, Broncos or Buccaneers starters: running back first, then tight end, then quarterback.

Do not drop your bye-week starters. Swift, Irving, Coleman, Barkley and Egbuka all return in Week 11, and none of them should be cut for a one-week replacement. Drop your lowest-ceiling bench player instead, typically a backup running back with no path to a role or a receiver who has not topped five targets in a month.

Check your Week 11 roster first. If you have Packers, Rams, Patriots, Falcons, Browns or Seahawks starters, prioritize replacements whose teams play both weeks. Shough, Gordon, Williams and Freiermuth all qualify. For the model's take on matchups as the week develops, see the NFL predictions page.

What's next

Week 9 results will reshape some of these calls. Watch Gordon's workload against Detroit, Allgeier's role at Seattle and Freiermuth's practice reports after the Steelers' bye. The trade deadline on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET could also open new roles before Week 10 kicks off, so revisit this list after the deadline passes and before Thursday night's game locks.