Fans were not happy when the NFL schedule makers placed the San Francisco 49ers' bye week during Week 4. While no schedule ever seems perfect, San Francisco kicks off the regular season with two straight road games before finally enjoying a home game at Levi's Stadium on September 22.
Some may feel that the NFL didn't do the 49ers any favors this season, but fullback Kyle Juszczyk doesn't see it that way. He joined 95.7 The Game on Thursday and said he views the very early bye week as a positive.
"As an NFL player, the first thing that I look at when I get the schedule is I look for when is our bye week?" Juszczyk said on the "Joe, Lo and Dibs" show. "That was what really kind of jumped out to me this year is the bye week in Week 4 is something I've never dealt with before, and I'm interested to see how that is going to play out.
"But I actually feel like it's going to be a positive for us because you don't realize how much training camp really takes out of you early in that season. To be able to get that week off in Week 4, I think will be huge for the rest of the season.
The early bye week could also be crucial for another reason. The 49ers will have the option of waiting to throw in rehabbing players like running back Jerick McKinnon and linebacker Kwon Alexander. Should the team opt to place either on the physically-unable-to-perform list to start the season, which would mean missing the first six weeks, an early bye week will result in one fewer missed game.
"And then, I think it's around Week 11 or 12 (it's actually Week 9), we go from a Thursday to a Monday (game)," Juszczyk continued, "which is basically another little mini-bye week in there. So I think we kind of built in two good rest periods that I think are going to be clutch for us in just staying fresh throughout the season."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Juszczyk below.