Fantasy football sleepers to play in Week 6

Here are some sleepers to play for Week 6 of fantasy football.

The fantasy football season is in full swing and between bye weeks, injuries and surprising performances, managers need to find the right sleepers more than ever.

Teams on a bye in Week 6 include the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings.

Whether it’s selecting the right streaming option at the quarterback and tight end positions or finding a flex option who boosts the entire lineup, the search for sleepers is endless.

We will be using The Huddle’s weekly PPR projections and rankings as a reference to find some potential boom games this week. Don’t forget to check out our start/bench list either.

Fantasy football sleepers to play in Week 4

Here are some sleepers to play in fantasy football for Week 4.

Fantasy football managers are just about through a quarter of the season, which means it’s time to either separate from the pack or rejoin the rest of the league for teams without a win.

Regardless of whether you started out hot or are still looking to grab that first victory of the season, hitting on the right sleepers brings a massive advantage.

Whether it’s selecting the right streaming option at the quarterback and tight end positions or finding a flex option who boosts the entire lineup, the search for sleepers is endless.

We will be using The Huddle’s weekly PPR projections and rankings as a reference to find some potential boom games this week. Don’t forget to check out our start/bench list either.

Fantasy football outlook: Chicago Bears wide receivers

For the first time in ages, Chicago has a passing game.

When you consider the Chicago Bears franchise stretches back more than 100 years, it beggars belief that they’ve never had a 4,000-yard passer (Erik Kramer holds the record with 3,838 yards in 1995) or had someone throw 30 touchdown passes (Kramer threw 29 in ’95). Are the winds of change finally ready to blow in the Windy City?

If they aren’t, it won’t be from a lack of trying. After trading for wide receiver DJ Moore last year, general manager Ryan Pace spent the first overall pick on quarterback Caleb Williams and then the ninth selection on WR Rome Odunze. Seeking a veteran presence, the GM also worked out a deal for longtime Los Angeles Chargers wideout Keenan Allen.

On paper, this is, by far, the best receivers room in the team’s history. It doesn’t end there, though, as the Bears also have a pair of solid tight ends in Cole Kmet (73-719-6 in 2023) and Gerald Everett (51-411-3 w/ LAC), and an accomplished pass catcher out of the backfield in running back D’Andre Swift, who has averaged 49 receptions per season in his career.

With so many options paired with a rookie triggerman, what can fantasy owners expect in 2024?

Fantasy football: Expectations for Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams

What are Williams’ pros and cons in fantasy this year?

The futility of Chicago Bears quarterbacks is unprecedented. The Bears haven’t had a first-team All-Pro since Johnny Lujack in 1950. Over the last 70 seasons, they’ve had just three quarterbacks named to the Pro Bowl – Billy Wade in 1963, Jim McMahon in 1985, and Mitchell Trubisky in 2018 (Trubisky wasn’t selected to the Pro Bowl, but was added as a replacement).

To call the lack of quarterback success a drought is an understatement. It hasn’t been a who’s who of quarterbacks in Chicago. It’s been a who’s that?

The Bears swung and missed on Justin Fields with the 11th pick in 2021 and, after trading the first pick in the 2023 draft to let the Carolina Panthers draft a quarterback, one of the selections that came back turned into the first pick of the 2024 draft. The Bears declined all trade offers and chose Caleb Williams.

In 37 games at USC (33 starts), Williams threw for 10,082 yards with 93 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions. He wasn’t a prolific rusher (289 carries for 960 yards – a 3.3-yard average), but he scored 27 rushing touchdowns.

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Williams has drawn comparisons to Patrick Mahomes, which can be good and bad. Williams has generational talent in terms of pocket awareness, mobility, and ability to fire passes from different arm angles – improvisation that creates big plays. However, Mahomes “gets away with” passes most QBs don’t because his coaching staff didn’t discourage him from taking unnecessary risks that can lead to turnovers. Williams got away with taking big risks in college that could be interceptions in the NFL.

Few players who are drafted No. 1 overall have immediate success because the teams they came to earned the first pick by being the worst team the previous season. That isn’t the case with Williams. The Bears were 7-10 in 2023 and have as much talent around Williams as any first overall pick in recent memory. Chicago already had wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet but added wide receiver Keenan Allen and running back D’Andre Swift in free agency. That was before using the ninth pick in the draft to select deep-threat wide receiver Rome Odunze. Williams has all the pieces around him to be elite quickly.

Fantasy football outlook

Williams is solidly in the top half of the QB2 rankings in 12-team leagues. If his ADP holds up on draft day, he’ll end up at a level where he would be paired with a quarterback like Dak Prescott, Kyler Murray or Jordan Love.

The Bears will start Williams on Day 1, but he doesn’t have to start on fantasy rosters until he proves he can make the transition to the NFL with ease. Like any rookie, he’s going to have his ups and downs along the way. He’ll look like a Pro Bowler one week and have an awful week the next. It’s a roller coaster all rookies ride.

With the talent assembled around him, Williams has a greater chance for immediate success than most rookie quarterbacks. At a minimum, he can be mixed and matched by those focusing on weekly matchups, with the strong potential to be the quarterback who starts more games than he doesn’t.

2024 fantasy football rookie dynasty/keeper rankings

Which rookies have the most long-term fantasy football value?

Looking for fantasy football rookie rankings for your dynasty or partial-keeper league? We have you covered.

Of course, injuries and radical personnel changes cannot be forecasted with much certainty. Variations in league settings and scoring formats notwithstanding, here are snapshot rankings depicting how the top rookies stack up for the long haul.

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Dynasty fantasy football rankings by position

2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report: QB Caleb Williams, USC

The presumed No. 1 pick makes for an interesting rookie fantasy QB.

Standout USC quarterback Caleb Williams is a human highlight reel as a game-altering play waiting to happen, and he brings his talents to the 2024 NFL Draft as the presumed first overall selection.

Williams committed to Oklahoma out of high school, where he played for a season before transferring to the Trojans. In 2021, he was a Freshman All-American and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention with just six Sooners starts to his name.

In two seasons as the full-time USC starter, Williams posted absurd numbers, especially in 2022 when he broke the school record for aerial scores as well as passing and total yards on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy. Williams won just about every other notable accolade, including Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year. He garnered First-Team All-Pac-12, First-Team Associated Press All-American, Walter Camp Player of the Year, and Maxwell Award recognition.

In 2023, after losing receiver Jordan Addison to the NFL, Williams would appear in 12 games and take a step backward statistically. He ran less but scored one more touchdown, and the most notable regression came in passing touchdowns with 30 compared to 42 the year prior. Williams closed out his FBS career as an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.

Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 214 pounds
40 time: 4.59 seconds (unofficial)

Table: QB Caleb Williams, USC (2021-23)

Year Team Class Gm Cmp Att Pct Yds AY/A TD Int Run Yds TD
*2021 Okla. Fr 11 136 211 64.5 1,912 10.2 21 4 79 442 6
*2022 USC So 14 333 500 66.6 4,537 10.3 42 5 113 382 10
*2023 USC Jr 12 266 388 68.6 3,633 10.3 30 5 97 142 11
Totals 37 735 1,099 66.9 10,082 10.3 93 14 289 966 27

*includes postseason/bowl games (stats from Sports Reference)
**player gained extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 pandemic

Pros

  • Freakish escapability and creativity and vision jump off the screen
  • Quick, compact throwing motion
  • Impeccable ball placement on the vast majority of his completions — has a true understanding of how to throw open a receiver in tight quarters
  • Consistently makes heroic plays that break the back of a defense
  • Elite athleticism and rushing prowess — massive chunk plays as well as the ability to house it even from distance
  • Thick, sturdily built frame to absorb big hits
  • Dangerous in the RPO game — aside from his ever-present rushing threat, he has full command of fake handoffs to sell the play
  • Really can uncork a deep ball with a quick flick of the wrist
  • Impressive red-zone production and rarely turns over the ball
  • Can accurately throw from any platform or angle
  • Delivers a very catchable ball
  • Improved demonstration of timing and anticipation in 2023
  • Accustomed to the spotlight of being a star prospect at a prominent program

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Cons

  • Lacks prototypical height and played almost exclusively from shotgun as a result
  • Too much freelancing — this is his best and worst trait and can get him into trouble
  • Wasn’t asked to operate within many NFL-level concepts in the passing game — it’s a chore to find more than a few hi-low recognition reads on tape
  • Sometimes feels ghost pressure and gets out of the pocket for no reason
  • Reckless style of play will open him up to injuries
  • Raw fundamental technique that may never greatly improve without hampering his most explosive attributes
  • Timing and anticipation are erratic — some of this is due to his tendency to play hero-ball
  • Lost five of last six games and threw multiple touchdowns in only two of those contests. To his credit, he was sharp as a razor in three 2022 losses

Fantasy football outlook

A freak of nature in many ways, it’s fairer to call Williams a “playmaker” over a “quarterback” in the truest sense of the latter. He’s overly reliant on athleticism — just won’t be something he gets away with quite as often in the pros. He will live and die by the proverbial sword, at least early on in his career, but it’s a real question if his recklessness can be curtailed to a balance that allows him to remain explosive but also play within a system.

Not every NFL coach will allow this to happen. Think back to the Mike Holmgren era with Brett Favre as a young quarterback. For every huge play No. 4 made, Holmgren aged 10 years by Favre living outside of the scope of the system’s game plan. It’s rare to find such a long runway of patience in today’s game.

Speaking of Favre, there’s visual correlation between Williams’ style and that of the Hall of Famer. The modern comparison is a blend of Kyler Murray and Patrick Mahomes — not bad company to keep.

After the Chicago Bears traded Justin Fields away, there’s no doubt where Williams will play in 2024 and the foreseeable future. The Bears stocked up on talent in the offseason, notably acquiring wide receiver Keenan Allen to pair with DJ Moore and signing running back D’Andre Swift. Veteran tight end Gerald Everett joined in free agency, too.

With the personnel upgrades, Williams enters a favorable scenario for fantasy utility. He’ll start from Day 1, and he has two proven NFL veteran receivers plus a promising young tight end in Cole Kmet. Swift offers an explosive runner to keep defenders honest as well as a viable pass-catching outlet.

New offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron calls the shots, so expect something similar to what we’ve seen from the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks the last few years. He was the OC for the latter from 2021-23 after learning the ropes under the Mike Shanahan-inspired West Coast offense of Sean McVay.

Williams has low-end QB1 upside with this offensive design having produced starting-quality quarterbacks of late, including the 2022 resurrection of Geno Smith. The rookie’s legs will bail him out while the rest of his game catches up, and bonus points for rushing success makes him a fine matchup gamble as your No. 2 passer.