Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition: How much attention (if any) should be given to byes? Should we be scared off by Drew Brees' Week 15 matchup? And how early is too early to go after the No. 1 quarterback on the board?

Question 1

One of the QBs I've considered going after is Brees. I know it's very early for this question but I'm a little freaked about the week 15 matchup at Arizona. I can't imagine a worse draw. Any immediate thoughts?

James Costello (Portland, ME)

I wouldn’t worry too much about it, especially in July. Arizona has a good defense, but it’s not a smothering shutdown unit. Against the pass it was only above average last year, allowing 247 yards per game, with 24 TD passes. Eight teams allowed fewer passing yards, and 10 allowed fewer touchdown passes. Brees passed for 355 yards and a touchdown at Arizona in Week 1 last year – not his best game, but not as if he got chewed up. Yards he should be fine. Touchdowns are more of a worry. Bigger concern isn’t the opponent but that the game is on the road. Brees in his last 40 games at home has averaged 331 yards, with 121 touchdowns (over 3 per game). In his last 40 on the road, he’s averaged almost as many yards (317 per game) but with just 73 touchdowns (under 2 per game).

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Question 2

We have a dynasty league with deep rosters (12 teams, start 2QB, 2 TE and 7 RB/WR). Our playoffs are 2 weeks each and run weeks 13-14 and 15-16 (2 rounds). We avoid week 17 for the playoffs. I recently noticed that there are bye weeks in week 13 this year. Any suggestions on how to handle this in regards to the playoffs? Due to the format, I don't really think it's an option to have a "normal" playoff round (where some teams just go without certain players in week 13 since that could leave them without a QB in one slot to no fault of their own). It's also not really something you can strategize for since most of these players were picked years ago. Thanks!

Chris Davies ()

My leaning is to just stay away from adjustments. If you happened to have any Cleveland or Tennessee players, you just have to deal with it. Those players carry the disadvantage of not appearing in Week 13, but they have the advantage of being the only players to appear in all 12 of the regular-season games. But if you are determined to work these guys into Week 13, I would suggest adding the following rule: “When an NFL team has a bye in Week 13, those players aren’t eligible to play in our fantasy league’s Week 12. Those stats instead apply to our Week 13 playoffs. Teams with those players (Cleveland/Tennessee in 2016) must announce prior to the start of NFL Week 12 if they’re using those stats for Week 13 (should their team advance to the postseason).” By moving those Week 12 stats, it solves the problem of missing games in the postseason while simultaneously eliminating the advantage of two teams not having a bye during your regular season.

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Question 3

Every year I look at my options at the draft and see I that all my best guys have the same bye. And I race to pick up guys to cover the bye. But does it really matter?

Brandon Hammes ()

I wouldn’t worry too much about byes. Reality is a whole bunch of guys will either get injured or simply underachieve. Others will be released as you make waiver claims on players who were overlooked in your draft. Combine all those factors and most of those bye problems tend to get solved without much trouble.

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Question 4

I am in a one-keeper non-PPR league with the 4th overall pick. I have to choose a keeper between Dez, A.J. Green, and Cam. Here is what I am assuming will be kept and in what order those teams will be picking. 1. L.Bell, 2. Rodgers, 3. McCoy, 5. Forte, 6. Gurley, 7. Lacy, 8. Beckham, 9. D.Johnson and 10. A.Brown. Elliott will be gone first, followed by Peterson and Julio, who do you suggest that I keep, and who I should look at taking with my first pick? As it stands I am looking at keeping Dez and coming back with Hopkins. Thoughts?

Tim Stapleton (Elizabethtown, KY)

Lots of different ways to go there. I see little difference between Hopkins, Bryant and Green. I have them in that order, with little separation. So one route is to go with a pair of wide receivers. That might, however, paint you out of being able to really cash in on whatever great receiver values come your way in the following rounds. By my math, Cam Newton is the No. 1 quarterback and grades out a little higher than the three receivers. So you could in theory protect him. That’s what the numbers suggest. Trouble is, however, that he’s a quarterback, and that’s the position where you know you can get some really nice deals in the later rounds. Plus a little voice in the back of my head keeps telling me that Newton takes way too much punishment and is long overdue to suffer a season-ending injury. Not enough that I’m moving him out of the No. 1 spot at his position, but gut tells me the best move is to leave that position until later. The other player in this situation, I think, is Mark Ingram. On my board he’s the No. 5 running back – just behind Peterson and just ahead of Elliott. My projections indicate the correct course for you is to protect Newton and then draft Ingram in the first round. If you have a desire to leave quarterbacks until later, which is reasonable, then you protect Bryant and draft Ingram.

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