Should I start Baker Mayfield or Samaje Perine in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Baker Mayfield, and the board ranks him 85th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 20.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 136th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Baker Mayfield is 16.6 PPR points a game off 4 markets across 6 market sources. That is 80 percent of what a quarterback's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 2.2 PPR points a game off 1 market across 5 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.

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

This season through Week 7

Through Week 7, Baker Mayfield has been on the field for 96 percent of TB snaps, dropped back 129 times and thrown 8.2 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 22 of 129 dropbacks and scrambled 9 times.

In Week 2 against CLE he completed 21 of 34 passes for 182 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 29 yards.

In Week 3 against MIN he completed 17 of 34 passes for 217 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 2 times for 6 yards.

In Week 7 against CAR he completed 7 of 11 passes for 64 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 1 yards.

Through Week 7, Samaje Perine has been on the field for 35 percent of CIN snaps, taken 24 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 17 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 53 third down targets, had 1 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 36 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have averaged 1.3 air yards.

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.

In Week 7 against BAL he carried 4 times for 16 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Baker Mayfield played 17 games and scored 282.9 PPR points, 16.6 a game, finishing QB12.

He threw for 3693 yards on 543 attempts with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and ran for 382 yards and 1 touchdown.

That came to 31.9 attempts a game at 6.8 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 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.

Baker Mayfield was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Baker Mayfield scored 16.6 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 11.4 a game between them.

Baker Mayfield finished QB12 and Samaje Perine RB57, which are two different ladders.

Baker Mayfield is a quarterback and Samaje Perine a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Baker Mayfield is off in Week 10 and Samaje Perine in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.