Things are a little different today than what they once were, but raise your hand if you remember classroom and hall monitors back in elementary school. They were usually the teacher’s pet — that kid who not only knew everything that was going on both in and out of school but also had no trouble reporting everything back to those in charge.

Back then, we made fun of those kids. As adults today, we embrace their loyalty and laud them for their maturity. It is with that same dedication to omniscience you as a fantasy football owner should monitor your waiver wire, especially now that we have entered the bye weeks.

The casual fantasy player simply adds and drops players each week, without much concern for what everyone else is doing. They know who they want to drop from their teams, and when looking for free agents, they check last week’s statistics to see who delivered. But what many people seem to miss, especially during the bye weeks, is how many players are carelessly jettisoned from teams simply because they won’t play the upcoming week.

When you look at your league’s free agents, don’t look at just who did what in Week 4. You need to study who is playing in Week 5 and what their matchups will be. If you just look at last week’s totals, you won’t see that someone in your league wrongfully dropped Tevin Coleman — who was not only on a bye, but hasn’t played since a Week 1 injury. If he was dropped in your league, chances are he’s still sitting on waivers because few people had the foresight to add him when he was on a bye. He may be not a super stud, but will provide solid flex value.

It’s the same with 49ers wide receiver Dante Pettis and possibly someone like Jets wideout Jamison Crowder. People drop productive talent for a variety of bad reasons, and being on a bye week is most definitely one of them. Pettis and Crowder could become fantastic options in PPR formats, and Coleman could emerge as a lead back in his team’s backfield. Acquiring them could prove to be the difference between making and missing your playoffs.

How many owners are going to drop Preston Williams, Marvin Jones Jr. or even T.J. Hockenson because they have a Week 5 bye? Nerdy hall monitors might not have had your respect back in the day, but just remember that they often grow up to win fantasy championships.

Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays at 4 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy sports advice and NFL player rankings.