Seahawks' late bye week in 2024 season should be a blessing

Last season, the Seattle Seahawks had their bye week only five weeks into the season. By the end of the season, while the Seahawks were trying to make a late playoff push, the injuries were just racking up. By comparison, the Seahawks had a week eleven bye and were relatively healthy as they found themselves in the playoffs.

Perhaps the bye week is not the be-all and end-all for the season, but having a late bye week trends well for the health of teams. Typically, teams are not as banged up by week five as they are by week ten, meaning the bye week doesn't serve as an effective purpose if it is early. By week ten, there are usually more injuries due to the nature of the long NFL season.

To put it into perspective, in week five of last season, the Seahawks only had four players out with injury - Charles Cross, Artie Burns, Tre Brown, and Jamal Adams. By week ten, the Seahawks had 15 players on the injury report and still had eight weeks to go in the season. Since their bye week in week five, the Seahawks had to play 13 straight games without a break. Through week 17 last season, the Seahawks had 251 games missed throughout its combined roster.

The 2024 bye week should come at a good time for the Seattle Seahawks

Further, an early bye week throws off some chemistry and any momentum a team is starting to play with early in a season. With a new coaching staff and several new players, waiting 10 weeks for a bye likely will help a young team begin to gel without interruption to start the season. The Seahawks are going to have a mostly revamped offensive line (yet again), and almost an entirely new defensive unit. Those units are going to need repetitive playing time.

The Seahawks also have a mini-bye coming off their December 26 Thursday Night Football game in Chicago, as they get to rest between weeks 17 and 18 for nine days. These extra two days of rest at the very tail-end of the season could be the difference between having a player available or not for what could be a very important week 18 matchup in Los Angeles against the Rams.

The bye week in week 10 also comes at a perfect time for Seattle. Three of the last four games before the bye will be against 2023 playoff teams - 49ers, Bills, and Rams. Also, three of the first four games coming out of the bye week are divisional games, with the fourth being Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets. Being healthy for those games cannot be overstated.

While the schedule is not entirely favorable for the Seahawks, as Lee Vowell pointed out, the later bye week does heavily favor Seattle, especially with the gauntlets before and after the bye week. Also, the schedule does begin fairly easily for Seattle, as three out of the first five opponents were picking in the top 12 in the draft last month - including the Giants and the Patriots, who both finished in the bottom six in the league. And the dreaded 10:00 am PT games are far and few between in 2024.

If you don't believe me, listen to Brock Huard:

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