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.

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.

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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

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

About the author

Rit Nanda is a sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over 4 years of experience. A PhD holder, he is passionate about a host of sports, including NFL, CFL, Rugby Union, Rugby League, and Soccer. He lives and breathes the Green Bay Packers, St Helens RFC, Harlequins, and Liverpool.

Rit’s all-time favorite NFL players are Packers’ very own Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Lowe. Vince Lombardi, after whom the Super Bowl trophy is named is his favorite coach. If he ever got his hands on a time machine, he would want to witness the Packers win Super Bowl I, and unsurprisingly, his most favorite Super Bowl is the XLV edition when the Packers beat the Pittsburg Steelers 31-25 to lift the trophy.

Rit’s strengths are statistical analysis and historical deep dives, where he uses the learnings from his PhD to conduct thorough research. He verifies facts via multiple sources to maintain accuracy, and believes in being objective in his articles by adding stats wherever possible.

When not writing professionally, Rit spends time in creative writing, reading and travelling.

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Edited by LeRon Haire