NFL Bye Weeks 2026: Schedule, Teams & Free Printable PDF
The NFL bye weeks 2026 schedule is locked in. Byes start in Week 5 and finish in Week 14, and Week 12 is the only week in that stretch when all 32 teams play. Below: the week by week list, every team A to Z, exact dates and a free printable PDF.
- Bye range: Week 5 (Oct 8 to 12) through Week 14 (Dec 10 to 14)
- No byes: Week 12, Thanksgiving week
- Heaviest bye week: Week 11, six teams off
- Lightest: Weeks 5, 9 and 14, two teams each
- Byes per team: one, inside an 18 week season of 17 games
- Season window: September 9, 2026 to January 10, 2027
NFL Bye Weeks 2026: Week by Week Schedule
| WEEK | DATES | TEAMS ON BYE | COUNT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 5 | Oct 8 to 12 | Panthers, Chiefs | 2 |
| Week 6 | Oct 15 to 19 | Bengals, Lions, Dolphins, Vikings | 4 |
| Week 7 | Oct 22 to 26 | Bills, Jaguars, Chargers, Commanders | 4 |
| Week 8 | Oct 29 to Nov 2 | Texans, Saints, Giants, 49ers | 4 |
| Week 9 | Nov 5 to 9 | Steelers, Titans | 2 |
| Week 10 | Nov 12 to 16 | Bears, Broncos, Eagles, Buccaneers | 4 |
| Week 11 | Nov 19 to 23 | Falcons, Browns, Packers, Rams, Patriots, Seahawks | 6 |
| Week 12 | Wed Nov 25 to 30 | No teams on bye (Thanksgiving week) | 0 |
| Week 13 | Dec 3 to 7 | Ravens, Colts, Raiders, Jets | 4 |
| Week 14 | Dec 10 to 14 | Cardinals, Cowboys | 2 |
Ten weeks carry byes. Every entry is checked against the official NFL bye week release and the league week by week schedule pages.
For kickoff times and TV channels across all 272 games, see our full 2026 NFL schedule.
2026 NFL Bye Weeks by Team (A to Z)
Find your club, note the Sunday it sits out, then check the last column for how many games it still has to play.
| TEAM | BYE WEEK | DATE (SUNDAY) | GAMES AFTER BYE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Cardinals | Week 14 | Dec 13 | 4 |
| Atlanta Falcons | Week 11 | Nov 22 | 7 |
| Baltimore Ravens | Week 13 | Dec 6 | 5 |
| Buffalo Bills | Week 7 | Oct 25 | 11 |
| Carolina Panthers | Week 5 | Oct 11 | 13 |
| Chicago Bears | Week 10 | Nov 15 | 8 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | Week 6 | Oct 18 | 12 |
| Cleveland Browns | Week 11 | Nov 22 | 7 |
| Dallas Cowboys | Week 14 | Dec 13 | 4 |
| Denver Broncos | Week 10 | Nov 15 | 8 |
| Detroit Lions | Week 6 | Oct 18 | 12 |
| Green Bay Packers | Week 11 | Nov 22 | 7 |
| Houston Texans | Week 8 | Nov 1 | 10 |
| Indianapolis Colts | Week 13 | Dec 6 | 5 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | Week 7 | Oct 25 | 11 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | Week 5 | Oct 11 | 13 |
| Las Vegas Raiders | Week 13 | Dec 6 | 5 |
| Los Angeles Chargers | Week 7 | Oct 25 | 11 |
| Los Angeles Rams | Week 11 | Nov 22 | 7 |
| Miami Dolphins | Week 6 | Oct 18 | 12 |
| Minnesota Vikings | Week 6 | Oct 18 | 12 |
| New England Patriots | Week 11 | Nov 22 | 7 |
| New Orleans Saints | Week 8 | Nov 1 | 10 |
| New York Giants | Week 8 | Nov 1 | 10 |
| New York Jets | Week 13 | Dec 6 | 5 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | Week 10 | Nov 15 | 8 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | Week 9 | Nov 8 | 9 |
| San Francisco 49ers | Week 8 | Nov 1 | 10 |
| Seattle Seahawks | Week 11 | Nov 22 | 7 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Week 10 | Nov 15 | 8 |
| Tennessee Titans | Week 9 | Nov 8 | 9 |
| Washington Commanders | Week 7 | Oct 25 | 11 |
Printable NFL Bye Weeks 2026 Schedule (Free PDF)
One page, both tables, no signup. Print it in landscape on US Letter or A4 with scaling set to fit the page, then pin it next to your fantasy football draft board.
Want the whole season on one sheet? Grab the printable NFL schedule grid or the free NFL playoff bracket.
What Is an NFL Bye Week?
A bye week is the one scheduled week off each club gets during the regular season. No game, no result. It spreads 17 games across 18 weeks and doubles the normal gap between kickoffs from seven days to 14.
The collective bargaining agreement guarantees players at least four consecutive days off during the bye, and that block must include the Saturday and Sunday unless the team plays the following Thursday. Coaches use the rest of the week to get injured starters healthy, self scout the season so far and install new looks. For fans and fantasy managers, the bye week schedule decides which Sundays your team is simply not on TV.
Why Week 12 Has No Byes in 2026
Week 12 is Thanksgiving week, and the league keeps all 32 clubs available for a holiday slate that now runs five days.
- Wed, Nov 25: Packers at Rams, the first Thanksgiving Eve game, 8:00 PM ET on Netflix
- Thu, Nov 26: Bears at Lions (1:00 PM ET, CBS), Eagles at Cowboys (4:30 PM ET, FOX), Chiefs at Bills (8:20 PM ET, NBC)
- Fri, Nov 27: Black Friday game, Broncos at Steelers, 3:00 PM ET on Prime Video
- Sun and Mon, Nov 29 to 30: the rest of the slate, closing with Panthers at Buccaneers
Green Bay and Los Angeles drew Week 11 byes, so both reach that Wednesday kickoff rested. Detroit and Dallas, the traditional Thanksgiving hosts, take Weeks 6 and 14 off instead.
Do Teams Play Better After a Bye Week?
Less than the folklore suggests, and the evidence has moved. NFL researchers Michael Lopez and Thompson Bliss studied 5,679 regular season games from 2002 to 2023 and found the bye was worth about 2.2 points per game before the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, then roughly 0.3 points after it. The modern figure is statistically indistinguishable from zero, with barely a two in three chance the effect is even positive.
The driver was practice, not rest. The 2011 deal ended scheduled practice during the bye and guaranteed time off instead, and the edge went with it. Mike North, the NFL vice president of broadcast planning, put it plainly at the 2026 schedule release: rest disparity is not a thing, and a team coming off its bye holds no competitive advantage. Treat a bye as recovery for the roster, not a prediction tool.
NFL Bye Weeks 2026 and Fantasy Football
Clustering wrecks lineups, not the byes themselves. Three points shape your draft plan and your waiver moves.
- Week 11 is the danger zone. Six offenses go quiet at once, including the Packers, Rams, Falcons and Seahawks. Do not stack starters from that group.
- Weeks 5, 9 and 14 are thin. Only two teams rest in each, so waiver wire cover is easy to find early and late.
- Every bye clears before Week 15. Most leagues open the postseason then, so no starter sits out your playoff run. Week 12 is free for everyone.
How the NFL Sets Bye Weeks
Byes are not random, but no rule book fixes them either. NFL Football Operations says schedule makers weigh byes and travel to protect competitive equity, work around the stadium conflicts clubs report each January, and give six broadcast partners the matchups they want.
Where the byes land is practice, not policy. Recent seasons have kept every bye between Week 5 and Week 14, but that window is a convention rather than a rule. League game logs show byes as early as Week 3 in 2006, and Week 4 byes survived as recently as 2019.
Long haul travel shows up clearly in 2026. With a record nine international games, three clubs rest the week straight after playing abroad: the Jaguars host two London games in Weeks 5 and 6 then sit in Week 7, the Saints host Pittsburgh in Paris in Week 7 and are off in Week 8, and the Patriots face Detroit in Munich in Week 10 before a Week 11 bye. Houston, Pittsburgh and Atlanta each wait two weeks after their trip.
San Francisco is the outlier. The 49ers open in Melbourne, host Minnesota in Mexico City in Week 11 and cover roughly 38,000 miles across the season, a league record, yet get no recovery week after either trip. Their bye came back in Week 8.
NFL Bye Weeks 2026 FAQs
When are the NFL bye weeks in 2026?
Byes run from Week 5 (Oct 8 to 12) through Week 14 (Dec 10 to 14). Week 12 is the only week inside that range with no teams off.
Which teams are on bye in Week 11 of 2026?
Six teams: Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. It is the heaviest bye week of the season.
Why is there no bye week in Week 12 of the 2026 NFL season?
Week 12 is Thanksgiving week. The league keeps all 32 clubs available for a holiday slate that runs five days, starting with the first Thanksgiving Eve game on Wednesday, November 25.
Which teams have the earliest and latest byes in 2026?
The Panthers and Chiefs rest first in Week 5, the weekend of October 11, then play 13 straight weeks to close the season. The Cardinals and Cowboys wait until Week 14 in mid December, leaving only four games after the break.
How many bye weeks does each NFL team get?
One. Every club plays 17 games and takes a single week off inside the 18 week regular season, a format in place since 2021.
Do NFL teams play better coming off a bye week?
Barely. NFL researchers who studied 5,679 games from 2002 to 2023 found the bye was worth about 2.2 points per game before the 2011 labor deal and roughly 0.3 points since, which is statistically indistinguishable from zero. The league executive who runs schedule and broadcast planning has said rest disparity is not a thing.
Is a playoff bye the same as a regular season bye week?
No. A regular season bye is the scheduled week off every team receives. In the playoffs only the top seed in each conference skips the wild card round, so just two clubs earn a first round bye.
Where can I download a printable 2026 NFL bye week schedule?
The free one page PDF is linked in the printable section above. It lists every week, the dates and all 32 teams, and prints cleanly on US Letter or A4 in landscape.
The NFL bye weeks 2026 schedule shapes ten weekends, from the Panthers and Chiefs opening the run in Week 5 to the Cardinals and Cowboys closing it in Week 14. Save the printable, mark Week 11 on your fantasy calendar, and bookmark this page since we refresh it whenever the league moves a game.
