Should I start Justin Herbert or Samaje Perine in Week 9?

The market-based projections

Justin Herbert's market-based projection is 16.6 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 5 market sources. That is the 9th highest figure of the 213 players with a market-based projection.

Samaje Perine's market-based projection is 4.8 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 11 market sources. That is the 63rd highest figure of the 213 players with a market-based projection.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Justin Herbert, and the board ranks him 71st overall on the rest of his evidence.

By format he goes standard: ADP 23; 2QB: ADP 12.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 70th overall on the rest of his evidence.

This season through Week 8

Through Week 8, Justin Herbert has been on the field for 100 percent of LAC snaps, dropped back 255 times and thrown 7.4 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 48 of 255 dropbacks and scrambled 22 times.

In Week 5 against DEN he completed 14 of 23 passes for 121 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 6 times for 54 yards.

In Week 6 against KC he completed 22 of 37 passes for 204 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 1 interception and ran 5 times for 26 yards.

In Week 8 against LAR he completed 24 of 31 passes for 257 yards, threw 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and ran 4 times for 15 yards.

Through Week 8, Samaje Perine has been on the field for 35 percent of CIN snaps, taken 23 percent of the carries, drawn 4 percent of the targets and had 18 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 61 third down targets, had 1 of its 17 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 43 two minute targets.

His 11 targets have averaged 1.3 air yards.

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.

In Week 8 against TEN he carried 4 times for 10 yards, caught 1 of 1 target for 9 yards and did not score.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Justin Herbert played 16 games and scored 299.9 PPR points, 18.7 a game, finishing QB10.

He threw for 3727 yards on 512 attempts with 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, and ran for 498 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 32.0 attempts a game at 7.3 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 97 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

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.

Justin Herbert was available for 1 game more.

Side by side

In 2025 Justin Herbert scored 18.7 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 13.5 a game between them.

Justin Herbert finished QB10 and Samaje Perine RB57, which are two different ladders.

Justin Herbert is a quarterback and Samaje Perine a running back, so the question is which slot you fill first rather than which of them is better.

Byes and availability

Justin Herbert is off in Week 7 and Samaje Perine in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

What would change the answer

11.9 points a game is the entire case. The market restates it every week, and a line that moves moves the order with it.

The draft market is the half that is missing: when live drafts hold these two again they can order them differently from the projection, and this page will follow the drafts rather than the market-based projection when they do.