Should I start Samaje Perine or Javonte Williams in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 67th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Javonte Williams, and the board ranks him 68th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 7.1 PPR points a game off 2 markets across 11 market sources. That is 70 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 Javonte Williams is 7.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 8 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.

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, Javonte Williams has been on the field for 75 percent of DAL snaps, taken 69 percent of the carries, drawn 8 percent of the targets and had 40 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 4 of the offence's 63 third down targets, had 17 of its 26 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 48 two minute targets.

His 22 targets have come 1.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 5 against TB he carried 12 times for 45 yards, caught 2 of 3 targets for 17 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 6 against GB he carried 11 times for 41 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 9 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

In Week 7 against PHI he carried 25 times for 155 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 Javonte Williams played 16 games and scored 242.8 PPR points, 15.2 a game, finishing RB12.

He carried 252 times for 1201 yards and 11 touchdowns, and caught 35 of 51 targets for 137 more yards.

That came to 15.8 carries a game at 4.8 yards a carry and 2.2 catches a game.

He was on the field for 68 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Javonte Williams was available for 1 game more.

Head to head

In 2025 Javonte Williams scored 15.2 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 10.0 a game between them.

Samaje Perine finished RB57 that year and Javonte Williams RB12.

Javonte Williams had 168 more carries than Samaje Perine, 252 to 84.

Javonte Williams had 18 more catches than Samaje Perine, 35 to 17.

This season Javonte Williams holds the bigger snap share, 75 percent against 35 percent.

This season Javonte Williams holds the bigger share of the carries, 69 percent against 24 percent.

Byes and availability

Samaje Perine is off in Week 6 and Javonte Williams in Week 14, so either can cover the other's bye.