In fantasy football, there are oftentimes players that go overlooked heading into a week of games. Sleepers are left on benches every single week, but sometimes that “big game from out of nowhere” could have been easily predicted and utilized in starting lineups. In this piece, I’ll be tiering and listing some of the sleepers I’ve identified ahead of Week 6 of the 2023 fantasy football season. If they’re on your bench, feel comfortable playing them over a starter with a worse outlook for Week 6. There’s also a chance they could be on the waiver wire, so snatch them up if you’re in need of their services.

I’ll be looking at players rostered in at least 50% of ESPN leagues and tier them in descending order of their percentage started on fantasy teams. In other words: the further down the list, the deeper the sleeper for Week 6’s matchups. If you’re looking for this week’s top waiver wire adds, check out this essential piece from Shane by clicking the link below!

Related Article: Week 6 Waiver Wire Adds

Tier One: Started in 20-50% of fantasy leagues

WR Christian Kirk – Jacksonville Jaguars (88.6% rostered / 43.5% started)

After a dud Week 1, WR Christian Kirk has had a great recovery and early start to the 2023 season. Kirk currently sits as the WR20 in PPR scoring, but omitting his Week 1 performance, Kirk is averaging over 17 fantasy points per game this season. He’s been able to perform like this throughout some of the early struggles that the Jaguars and their passing offense have faced as a whole. Now in Week 6, the Jaguars get a much more favorable matchup for Kirk, squaring off with the division rival Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have given up the eight-most fantasy points to opposing WRs on the season. While Kirk had his bad opening game vs. the Colts, I imagine he gets a taste of revenge in this contest en route to another sizeable game of production.

TE Zach Ertz  – Arizona Cardinals (64.4% rostered / 32.1% started)

Back in the middle of the Summer, I had shouted Ertz out on my off-season sleepers article, while most had marked him after he suffered a torn ACL and MCL in the second half of the 2022 season. Ertz was effective when he was healthy in 2022, and I envisioned that Ertz could still play a similar role this year, whether it be on the Cardinals or if he were traded to a contender to search for championships as he ends his career. Instead, the 32-year-old tight end is the PPR TE15 on the season and has scored at least 8.1 fantasy points in 4-of-5 games this season. Now, Ertz has another chance to feast vs. the Rams, who allowed nearly 15 fantasy points to Eagles TE Dallas Goedert on their openind drive alone in Week 5. The veteran Cardinals TE should once again find himself atop the TE leaderboards after Week 6.

WR Jerry Jeudy – Denver Broncos (85.8% rostered / 29.6% started)

The Broncos’ passing offense has found some success in the early goings of 2023, despite the team’s struggles to win football games this season. Jeudy is averaging six targets per game across his four appearances this year, but has struggled to submit an above-average performance this season. Perhaps some of his production issues could be contributed to the hamstring injury he suffered in camp that held him out of Week 1. However, in Week 5, Jeudy logged a season-high 86 percent of snaps in Week 5, and has led the team in targets in each of the last two weeks. Hopefully, this means that Jeudy is closer to 100 percent health, and still has a higher ceiling ahead of him this season. Jeudy gets a more difficult matchup with the Chiefs, but I imagine the Broncos stand to pass the ball a ton as they attempt to match the Chiefs’ firepower. Perhaps Jeudy can expose some short-winded defenders as they face Kansas City on a reduced week of rest on Thursday Night Football.

Tier Two: Started in 10-20% of fantasy leagues

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