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

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 137th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darius Cooper, and the board ranks him 138th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 2.1 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.

The market-based projection for Darius Cooper is 1.5 PPR points a game off 1 market across 3 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, Darius Cooper has been on the field for 59 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 8 percent of the targets and had 8 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 5 of the offence's 69 third down targets, had 2 of its 15 chances inside the five and seen 5 of its 37 two minute targets.

His 18 targets have averaged 11.1 air yards.

In Week 5 against JAX he caught 2 of 3 targets for 71 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against CAR he caught 1 of 2 targets for 9 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against DAL he caught 1 of 3 targets for 17 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 Darius Cooper played 13 games and scored 18.2 PPR points, 1.4 a game.

He caught 9 of 11 targets for 92 yards and 0 touchdowns, with 0 red zone targets.

That came to 0.8 targets a game, a 82 percent catch rate and 10.2 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 19 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Samaje Perine was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Samaje Perine scored 5.2 PPR points a game and Darius Cooper 1.4, 3.8 a game between them.

Samaje Perine is a running back and Darius Cooper 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 Darius Cooper in Week 10, so either can cover the other's bye.