Should I start Samaje Perine or Cooper Kupp in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 119th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Cooper Kupp, and the board ranks him 128th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 2.3 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 Cooper Kupp is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 market sources. That is 30 percent of what a wide receiver's projection needs, so it is a fragment of one rather than a projection.

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

This season through Week 7

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.

Through Week 7, Cooper Kupp has been on the field for 68 percent of SEA snaps, drawn 13 percent of the targets and had 3 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 9 of the offence's 62 third down targets, had 0 of its 19 chances inside the five and seen 9 of its 38 two minute targets.

His 27 targets have averaged 8.4 air yards.

In Week 5 against SF he caught 2 of 3 targets for 15 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against DEN he caught 5 of 10 targets for 50 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against KC he caught 2 of 2 targets for 20 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

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.

In 2025 Cooper Kupp played 16 games and scored 117.3 PPR points, 7.3 a game, finishing WR53.

He caught 47 of 70 targets for 593 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 12 red zone targets.

That came to 4.4 targets a game, a 67 percent catch rate and 12.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 76 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Cooper Kupp was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Cooper Kupp scored 7.3 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 2.1 a game between them.

Samaje Perine finished RB57 and Cooper Kupp WR53, which are two different ladders.

Samaje Perine is a running back and Cooper Kupp a wide receiver, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Samaje Perine is off in Week 6 and Cooper Kupp in Week 11, so either can cover the other's bye.