Should I start Alvin Kamara or Samaje Perine in Week 7?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Alvin Kamara, and the board ranks him 146th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 147th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Alvin Kamara is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 6 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a running back's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

Alvin Kamara's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 6, Alvin Kamara has been on the field for 32 percent of NO snaps, taken 28 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 50 third down targets, had 2 of its 18 chances inside the five and seen 1 of its 22 two minute targets.

His 20 targets have averaged 0.3 air yards.

In Week 4 against ATL he carried 7 times for 23 yards, caught 5 of 7 targets for 35 yards and scored 2 touchdowns.

In Week 5 against MIN he carried 3 times for 12 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for -6 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against NYG he carried 7 times for 34 yards, caught 2 of 4 targets for 35 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Through Week 5, Samaje Perine has been on the field for 37 percent of CIN snaps, taken 25 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 33 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have averaged 1.3 air yards.

In Week 3 against PIT he carried 3 times for 9 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for 5 yards and did not score.

In Week 4 against JAX he carried 3 times for 7 yards, caught 0 of 1 target for 0 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against MIA he carried 14 times for 68 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 10 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Alvin Kamara played 11 games and scored 100.7 PPR points, 9.2 a game, finishing RB46.

He carried 131 times for 471 yards and 1 touchdown, and caught 33 of 39 targets for 186 more yards.

That came to 11.9 carries a game at 3.6 yards a carry and 3.0 catches a game.

He was on the field for 63 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

In 2025 Samaje Perine played 15 games and scored 77.9 PPR points, 5.2 a game, finishing RB57.

He carried 84 times for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns, and caught 17 of 21 targets for 87 more yards.

That came to 5.6 carries a game at 5 yards a carry and 1.1 catches a game.

He was on the field for 34 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Samaje Perine was available for 4 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Alvin Kamara scored 9.2 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 4.0 a game between them.

Alvin Kamara finished RB46 that year and Samaje Perine RB57.

Alvin Kamara had 47 more carries than Samaje Perine, 131 to 84.

Alvin Kamara had 16 more catches than Samaje Perine, 33 to 17.

This season Samaje Perine holds the bigger snap share, 37 percent against 32 percent.

This season Alvin Kamara holds the bigger share of the carries, 28 percent against 25 percent.

Byes and availability

Alvin Kamara is off in Week 8 and Samaje Perine in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

Alvin Kamara is listed as questionable on the injury report.