Fantasy Football Week 6 Cheat Sheet: Identifying Sleepers for Deep Leagues

This is the point in the NFL season where the smart fantasy general manager will start making key moves every week.

The goal is simple: You want to win each matchup, and by paying close attention to changes that NFL head coaches are making with their personnel or observing which players are starting to heat up after a slow start, you can build a winning lineup.

Sometimes these moves are made with players who are anything but household names. Sleepers can turn any team around, and deep sleepers—defined as any player owned by less than 40 percent in Yahoo leagues—can give you bragging rights. 

It's one thing to win in Fantasy Football, it's quite another to do it because you have done your homework and your opponent is left scratching his head and saying, "why didn't I think of that."

We are making our choices based on a 12-team, basic scoring league.

Deep Sleepers for Week 6

Quarterbacks

Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears, 24 percent

Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns, 37 percent

Sam Darnold, N.Y. Jets, 7 percent

Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 21 percent

Mitchell Trubisky

The Bears' second-year quarterback has assumed a position of leadership with a team that is starting to look like a legitimate playoff contender. 

The primary reason for that status is a remarkable defense that is led by outstanding linebacker Khalil Mack, who has mastered the strip sack and the fumble recovery.

The Chicago defense is imposing its will on opponents, and if the Bears are going to take advantage of that, they need Trubisky to lead the offense and take advantage of what opponents give them.

Trubisky had some decent moments in his first three games but lacked overall consistency. He was magnificent in Week 4 against Tampa Bay when he completed 19 of 26 passes for 354 yards with six touchdowns and kept it clean on the interception front.

Nobody believes that Trubisky can repeat that performance, but he can be a consistent quarterback who comes from the ranks of the deep sleepers to be a winning NFL quarterback and a solid fantasy addition.

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

Running backs

Latavius Murray, Minnesota Vikings, 38 percent

Alfred Blue, Houston Texans, 14 percent

Ito Smith, Atlanta Falcons, 4 percent

LeGarrette Blount, Detroit Lions, 12 percent

LeGarrette Blount

We offered the advice of taking Blount prior to last week's game against the Green Bay Packers, and he rewarded those who took that advice with two touchdowns.

The belief here is that Blount's success was not some stab in the dark that happened to come through. He scored 18 rushing touchdowns two years ago when he was with the New England Patriots, and his current head coach Matt Patricia knows him well since he was the long-time New England defensive coordinator.

Blount made Patricia's life easier in New England when he could punch in short-yardage touchdowns by taking the heat off of the defense and helping to run down the clock. He can do the same in Detroit whenever the Lions are in short-yardage situations or near the goal line.

Blount has just 117 rushing yards and a 2.5-yards per carry average, but it's his value as a touchdown maker that gives him value.

Wide receivers 

Mohamed Sanu, Atlanta Falcons, 37 percent

Robby Anderson, New York Jets, 35 percent

Equanimeous St. Brown, Green Bay Packers, 1 percent

Robby Anderson

The Jets offense went into high gear in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos. Running back Isaiah Crowell had the game of a lifetime as he rushed for 219 yards and averaged 14.6 yards per carry.

However, there were some key plays in the passing game, and one of those was a 76-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to Anderson.

That's not a fluke, because Anderson has game-breaking speed. Through the early weeks of the season, Darnold was throwing the majority of his passes to Quincy Enunwa, a bigger and stronger receiver who does not have Anderson's speed.

The Jets made a point of Anderson's ability to run by defenders during training camp, and the key will be for him to stretch the defense and open it up so Darnold has options in the way he attacks.

One of those options will be throwing medium- and long-range passes to Anderson from this point forward.

Tight ends

Jesse James, Pittsburgh Steelers, 25 percent

Antonio Gates, Los Angeles Chargers, 14 percent

Cameron Brate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 32 percent

Jesse James

While Vance McDonald was making highlight-reel plays earlier in the season—and still may do that again—it's hard not to like James as a receiver when he is averaging 20.7 yards per catch.

James can go up the seam of the defense and make damaging plays. James has one TD reception to this point, and he should be in a position to catch a few more. 

Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster are going to be the team's dominant receivers, and that should leave James with single coverage on nearly every play.