When is the first bye week in the NFL?
The NFL season is now in full motion, which means that very soon teams will be entering their bye weeks. Bye weeks come in a staggered format and this year will be slightly different from previous years.
Since this regular season has 17 games, it has 18 weeks in total and all the teams receive their byes over a period of 9 matchweeks.
THIS is now OFFICIAL....we have a new era in the @NFL with a 17-game season over 18 weeks. Also...preseason reduced from 4 games to 3 games for total of 20 games from August through early January. Super Bowl moves back a week (2/13).
Will NOT materially affect Tiebreakers. twitter.com/JoeNFL/status/…
Note that there is no discernible order of when each team gets a bye week. Nor can we fathom why some weeks have more teams that are playing and exactly the opposite on other weeks. Some bye weeks only feature two teams, whereas some other weeks there are up to six teams not taking the field.
The first bye week begins with games on the 14th of October 2021, which is in Week 6 of the NFL, and there are four teams that will not play.
We have divulged the full bye week schedule below for an easy reference.
2021 NFL Bye Week Schedule
Week 6: Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers
Week 7: Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 8: Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders
Week 9: Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Football Team
Week 10: Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, New York Giants
Week 11: Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams
Week 12: Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs
Week 13: Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Tennessee Titans
Week 14: Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles
NFL Bye Weeks
6 Falcons Saints Jets 49ers
7 Bills Cowboys Jaguars Chargers Vikings Steelers
8 Ravens Raiders
9 Lions Seattle Seahawks Buccaneers WFT
10 Bears Bengals Texans Giants
11 Rams Broncos
12 Cardinals Chiefs
13 Panthers Browns Packers Titans
14 Colts Dolphins Pats Eagles
What are the matches on the first bye week?
For those of our fans that dabble in Fantasy Football, by which we mean all of you, here is a ready reckoner of the teams that will feature during the first bye week.
October 14, 8:20 p.m. ET
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, October 17, 9:30 a.m. ET
Miami Dolphins at Jacksonville Jaguars in London
Sunday, October 17, 1:00 p.m. ET
Minnesota Vikings at Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions
Los Angeles Rams at New York Giants
Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore Ravens
Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts
Kansas City Chiefs at Washington Football Team
Sunday, October 17, 4:05 p.m. ET
Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland Browns
Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos
Dallas Cowboys at New England Patriots
Sunday, October 17, 8:20 p.m. ET
Seattle Seahawks at Pittsburgh Steelers
Monday, October 18, 8:15 p.m. ET
Buffalo Bills at Tennessee Titans