Should I start Samaje Perine or Dontayvion Wicks in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 130th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Dontayvion Wicks, and the board ranks him 131st 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 Dontayvion Wicks is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 2 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 so far

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 6, Dontayvion Wicks has been on the field for 79 percent of PHI snaps, drawn 17 percent of the targets and had 9 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 16 of the offence's 58 third down targets, had 1 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 7 of its 29 two minute targets.

His 32 targets have averaged 13.1 air yards.

In Week 4 against LAR he caught 3 of 5 targets for 18 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against JAX he caught 5 of 8 targets for 63 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against CAR he caught 2 of 4 targets for 24 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 Dontayvion Wicks played 14 games and scored 75.8 PPR points, 5.4 a game, finishing WR83.

He caught 30 of 46 targets for 332 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 4 red zone targets.

That came to 3.3 targets a game, a 65 percent catch rate and 11.1 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 47 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Samaje Perine was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Dontayvion Wicks scored 5.4 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 0.2 a game between them.

Samaje Perine finished RB57 and Dontayvion Wicks WR83, which are two different ladders.

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

Dontayvion Wicks is listed as questionable on the injury report.