Fantasy Football: 6 Sleepers for Week 6

The word "sleeper" gets thrown around a lot in the world of fantasy football, to the point where an actual definition may vary from person to person. In general, sleepers are NFL players that may be flying relatively under the radar in a particular field. That could be an under-rostered player in season-long leagues, a player with an exciting matchup in a given week, or even a potential star just ahead of their true breakout.

In any case, we all need to find a sleeper from time to time. Whether you're a fantasy football hipster looking to roster an exciting new player before your league-mates hear about him, a daily fantasy manager looking for a lower-salary player to fill out a lineup loaded with studs, or even just a manager in a pinch due to byes or injuries, we have you covered. We'll be bringing you six fantasy sleepers each and every week throughout the season.

Fantasy Football Week 6 Sleepers

Sam Howell, QB, Washington Commanders

FanDuel Salary: $7,000

The Washington Commanders have a fun one with quarterback Sam Howell. The former North Carolina Tar Heels signal caller has had ups and downs in his first year as an NFL starter, but apart from one disaster against the Buffalo Bills' strong, pre-injury defense, he's been pretty solid for fantasy football.

So far this season, Howell's defining characteristic has been his propensity for taking sacks. He's pacing to set the NFL record for most sacks taken in a single season with his absurd 13.2% sack rate. It warps Washington's offense, but he and his playmakers have still been able to put points on the board in spite of his shortcomings in the pocket. They're getting there through volume, which also happens to be a great way to score fantasy points.

Howell has attempted the fourth-most passes this season (191) and put up the sixth-most yards (1,349) on the season. He has tossed touchdowns in all but one game so far in 2023 (the aforementioned meltdown against the Bills) and has somehow only fumbled twice despite taking close to 30 sacks already this season. To buoy his floor for fantasy purposes, the second-year quarterback can scoot a little bit, too; he's rushed for the twelfth-most yards (101) among quarterbacks this year and has already notched a rushing touchdown. The former fifth-round pick rushed for 828 yards and 11 touchdowns in his final season at Chapel Hill, so it's possible he even taps into the rushing part of his game more as he grows more accustomed to the NFL.

This week Howell and his Commanders draw a relatively tough matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, but we've already seen Howell's volume-based approach help him sustain solid enough fantasy numbers against good defenses like the Philadelphia Eagles. No team has sacked the quarterback less than the Falcons have this season, too, so it's possible we see Howell stay on his feet more in Week 6 than we've grown accustomed to seeing from him so far this season.

Josh Downs, WR, Indianapolis Colts

FanDuel Salary: $5,600

Speaking of volume-based UNC alums, Indianapolis Colts rookie wide receiver Josh Downs could start soaking up volume in the coming weeks. The 2023 third-round pick has been picking up steam in the Colts' offense and appears to be a stylistic fit with Colts interim starting quarterback Gardner Minshew on paper.

Minshew loves to feature the quick game when he has the chance, and the Colts seem content to let him do that. We've seen plenty of the journeyman backup already this year due to starting quarterback Anthony Richardson's unfortunate luck with injuries, and in those appearances, Minshew has averaged the fourth-lowest average intended air yards per pass attempts (6.6 yards down the field on average per attempt) and gets rid of the ball at the eighth-fastest rate in the league (2.62 second per drop back, on average). That lines up perfectly with Downs' usage, which has him drawing targets with a 6.8-yard average depth of target (aDOT) as a rookie.

In Minshew's lone start so far this season, Downs drew a whopping 12 targets. His low aDOT usage this season necessitates that kind of volume in order for him to put up fantasy-relevant numbers, and with Minshew now running the show, it looks like Downs should start seeing that kind of volume more consistently over the next few weeks while Richardson recovers.

This is what Downs does, and he does it well. The rookie's 1.67 yards per route run quietly leads all Colts wide receivers this year -- even topping WR1 Michael Pittman Jr.'s 1.61 mark. In his final two seasons of college ball, Downs averaged 97.5 catches for 1,182 yards and 9.5 scores per year, showing off a consistent ability to draw targets, put up yards, and capitalize in the end zone. We haven't seen that last part materialize yet in the NFL, but Week 6 could be the first time Downs scores in the big leagues as the Colts take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jags' rushing defense has been strong this year, pushing more offenses to attack them through the air. Even with Jonathan Taylor back in action, the Colts should still throw plenty of passes this week. A significant number of them should head towards Downs in the short game.

Rashod Bateman, WR, Baltimore Ravens

FanDuel Salary: $4,800

The Baltimore Ravens lost a heartbreaker in Week 5, but it wasn't Lamar Jackson's fault; he hit multiple pass-catchers in the hands, in the end zone for would-be touchdowns if those passes hadn't clanked off of his receivers' hands. So naturally, we're recommending one of those pass-catchers as a sleeper for Week 6.

Rashod Bateman was guilty for one of those drops in Week 5, but focusing on the drop itself overlooks the fact that the former first round pick got himself wide open off the line of scrimmage in the end zone. That's a rare talent in the NFL and one that could keep Jackson looking his way even after his brutal drop.

The Ravens' pass-catchers have a potentially-nice Week 6 matchup with the Tennessee Titans, whose defense is once again shaping up to be one of the league's premiere pass-funnels. The Titans play incredibly stout running defense -- excluding their Week 5 meltdown against the Colts -- which forces opposing offenses to pass. By contrast, passers facing the Titan average a strong 6.8 net yards per pass attempt, the sixth-highest rate in the league. That sets Jackson and his pass-catchers up for an efficient day -- assuming they can reel in his passes.

In Bateman's defense, the former first-round pick has been snake-bitten by injuries in each of his first three seasons in the league and hasn't had a real chance to put things together as a starter. He posted an elite 2.38 yards per route run in 2022 before breaking his foot and spent most of the summer rehabbing from the resulting surgery. He's finally off the Ravens' injury report heading into Week 6 and will hopefully be ready to bounce back after last week's disappointing day.

Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina Panthers

FanDuel Salary: $5,500

Carolina Panthers starting running back Miles Sanders is getting beaten up this season. The veteran back, who has managed a groin injury for the entire season to this point, is now also dealing with a shoulder injury and missing practices. With an 0-5 record and a bye just around the corner, there's an argument to be made that the team should give Sanders a week off to make sure he's right when the team returns to action in Week 8.

What could make that decision easier is how well RB2 Chuba Hubbard has continued to play while the team's primary rusher has struggled. Just take a look at how the two backs stack up across varying metrics used to quantify running back play:

As you can see from the chart, Hubbard is outperforming his backfield-mate virtually across the board -- Hubbard has a higher yards per carry, rushing success rate, is finding more yards before contact, and generating more yards after contact. Even if the team truly values what Sanders does for their offense over what Hubbard can provide, it doesn't look like their ground game would suffer much if they let Sanders catch a breather with a week to go before their bye.

It might not even take an intervention to get Hubbard some extra touches this week as the Panthers prepare to take on the white-hot Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins have been burying bad teams this year, opening up quarters upon quarters of garbage time action for their opponents' offenses. If the game does get out of hand, it's hard to see the Panthers keeping a banged up Sanders on the field in a lost game.

There's also a chance that the Panthers themselves catch wind of stats like these during their bye week and start to work Hubbard into a more prominent role in their offense. Considering that the team has the ninth-highest rush rate over expectation in general, it's fair to surmise that they'd like to be getting the most they possibly can from their running backs. At this point, it seems like Hubbard offers more than a banged-up Sanders, and fantasy managers have an opportunity to act on a possible shakeup in their backfield.

Kendre Miller, RB, New Orleans Saints

FanDuel Salary: $4,700

New Orleans Saints running back Kendre Miller is a low-key must-add in season-long fantasy leagues.

The third-round rookie hasn't had an ideal start to his NFL career, but better days could be coming. He looks like the primary back behind Alvin Kamara on a decent Saints offense and his garbage-time usage in the Saints' blowout Week 5 win could be a good sign that he's healthier now than when he entered the season with knee and hamstring injuries.

It's hard to glean too many concrete takeaways from a 34-0 shutout win with a first-quarter defensive touchdown, but in Week 5 Miller did look like he's the go-to guy behind Kamara right now -- the team clearly felt good enough about him behind Kamara that they allowed the Arizona Cardinals to sign Tony Jones Jr. away from their practice squad. Kamara has historically played best when playing alongside a complimentary rusher -- a role that Miller could work his way into with a little more time. We've seen the Saints -- albeit with future Hall of Fame-r Drew Brees at the helm -- sustain multiple fantasy-relevant rushers at a time, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that Miller eventually works into an every-week RB3/Flex player in fantasy football.

This week, the Saints will take on the Houston Texans, who have been kind to opposing running backs in fantasy this season. We should see a real, competitive game script in this one. If Miller keeps working in alongside Kamara in a more evenly-matched contest, you'll wish you'd picked him up this week instead of waiting for him on waivers heading into Week 7.

Cade Otton, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

FanDuel Salary: $4,900

If you're in need at the tight end position for Week 6, you could probably do worse than Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton. Otton has been pretty much the only tight end running routes for the Bucs this year and could step into a more prominent role coming out of their bye with WR1 Mike Evans sidelined by a hamstring injury.

Besides Chris Godwin, the Bucs don't really have another proven pass-catcher on the roster behind Evans, who has averaged just about eight targets per game. Otton has been out there running routes almost as often as Evans and Godwin but just hasn't been seeing as many targets. That could change without one of the Bucs' target hogs in the lineup, especially considering that the team had a whole bye week to prepare for their Week 6 matchup with the Detroit Lions.

The Lions' defense has really turned things around in 2023, but they do seem to be an exploitable defense for opposing tight ends -- Detroit has allowed the most targets (49), most receptions (37) and second-most yards (353) to opposing tight ends this season, even after catching a matchup against a Travis Kelce-less Kansas City Chiefs team in Week 1. To make a plus matchup even more palatable for streaming tight ends, the Lions' defense will likely be without promising rookie nickel Brian Branch and just lost Emmanuel Moselely to the injured reserve.

The Bucs haven't looked nearly as dreadful as some may have been expecting in a post-Tom Brady world, and until the other shoe drops, we can look to their skill position player for fantasy football production. Otton will be out there running routes against a defense that doesn't seem to cover tight ends and could see a spike in targets while Mike Evans recovers from his hamstring strain.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.