Should I start Samaje Perine or Darnell Washington in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 127th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Darnell Washington, and the board ranks him 179th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

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.

The market-based projection for Darnell Washington is 1.9 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. That is 30 percent of what a tight end'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, Darnell Washington has been on the field for 65 percent of PIT snaps, drawn 9 percent of the targets and had 13 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 2 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 3 of its 7 chances inside the five and seen 4 of its 41 two minute targets.

His 23 targets have averaged 4.9 air yards.

In Week 5 against IND he caught 2 of 3 targets for 12 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against TB he caught 4 of 6 targets for 25 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against NO he caught 1 of 1 target for 4 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 Darnell Washington played 16 games and scored 73.4 PPR points, 4.6 a game, finishing TE39.

He caught 31 of 43 targets for 364 yards and 1 touchdown, with 8 red zone targets.

That came to 2.7 targets a game, a 72 percent catch rate and 11.7 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 57 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Darnell Washington was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Samaje Perine scored 5.2 PPR points a game and Darnell Washington 4.6, 0.6 a game between them.

Samaje Perine finished RB57 and Darnell Washington TE39, which are two different ladders.

Samaje Perine is a running back and Darnell Washington a tight end, 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 Darnell Washington in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.