So far this season, from a fantasy football perspective, the Chicago Bears' offense has been quarterback Caleb Williams (QB6 by fantasy points per game), wide receiver Rome Odunze (WR4 by points per game, 0.5-point PPR) and little else.
The bye week was definitely a time for head coach Ben Johnson and his staff to evaluate and figure out how to deploy personnel better. On that front, two players stand out as likely to be more involved over the rest of the season, but it will take time to see what that looks like beyond a single game.
Odunze is absolutely a lock to be in fantasy lineups, and Williams is in that conversation depending on what else a fantasy manager has on a roster at quarterback. Running back D'Andre Swift is probably a starter for a lot of his fantasy managers, and maybe one of these weeks D.J. Moore has a notable outing.
Week 6 is not a huge bye week, with only two teams idle, but lace injuries into the equation and plenty of fantasy managers have to dig deep to find lineup options.
Maurice Moton helps those fantasy managers each week by outlining a couple fantasy sleepers at each position, with a pretty solid hit rate so far this season.
For Week 6, Mouton has a surprising Bears' player on his list of sleepers.
Analyst makes case for surprising Bears' Week 6 fantasy sleeper
"Rookie tight end Colston Loveland is rostered in more leagues (30 percent) than Cole Kmet, but you should be more interested in the latter."
"Through the first four weeks of the season, Kmet outpaced Loveland in targets (16 to six), catches (seven to three) and receiving yards (116 to 43). Also, in Week 4, before the Chicago Bears' bye, the sixth-year tight end played 100 percent of the offensive snaps."
"In other words, Loveland, a rookie first-rounder, hasn't surpassed Kmet on the depth chart yet."
"Kmet could be a headline fantasy performer on Monday night when he matches up against the Washington Commanders' linebackers."
"During their week off, the Bears likely identified the Commanders' defensive weakness. They can exploit the middle of the field with both of their tight ends, though Kmet's significant role in Chicago's offense makes him a more viable option than Loveland."
Kmet indeed played all of the Bears' offensive snaps in Week 4 against the Las Vegas Raiders, but Colston Loveland was out. He also didn't have a very good showing, with just three catches for 46 yards on nine targets. The door seems open for Loveland to take on a much larger role now that his Week 3 hip injury is behind him, and he could be a fantasy asset himself very soon.
The Commanders are allowing the 12th-most fantasy points per game to tight ends entering Week 6 (11.5 per game, Yahoo! scoring-0.5-point PPR). They aren't allowing a ton of catches to the position (4.4 per game), but they have allowed the fifth-most receiving yards to tight ends (327; 65.4 per game). Looking deeper at that last stat, Packers tight end Tucker Kraft had 124 yards against them in Week 2, with a 57-yard play to boost that number.
So, overall, the matchup seems pretty "meh" for the Bears' tight ends.
The case for Kmet as a fantasy sleeper this week begins and ends with the mystery over how much Loveland will play. The tight end landscape may also push some managers toward starting someone like Kmet in deep leagues, and Mouton noted his cheap price in DFS ($3,200 on DraftKings).
Read more: Bears fans won't love Ben Johnson's comments about struggling position group
If Kmet scores a touchdown against Washington, he'll pay off as a dart-throw sleeper or a cheap DFS lineup option. Otherwise, it's hard to get excited about him in the fantasy realm this week.