Should I start Lamar Jackson or Samaje Perine in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Lamar Jackson, and the board ranks him 59th overall on the rest of his evidence.

In 2QB drafts he goes at ADP 3.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 60th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

Lamar Jackson's market-based projection is 19.1 PPR points a game, built from 5 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 11th highest figure of the 207 players with a market-based projection.

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.

Samaje Perine's projection is not complete, so the two figures are not set against each other here.

This season so far

Through Week 4, Lamar Jackson has been on the field for 88 percent of BAL snaps, dropped back 111 times and thrown 10.4 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 13 of 111 dropbacks and scrambled 10 times.

In Week 2 against NO he completed 21 of 30 passes for 235 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 1 interception and ran 4 times for 34 yards.

In Week 3 against DAL he completed 15 of 20 passes for 186 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 6 times for 50 yards.

In Week 4 against TEN he completed 15 of 20 passes for 222 yards, threw 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions and ran 2 times for 20 yards.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025 Lamar Jackson played 13 games and scored 221.9 PPR points, 17.1 a game, finishing QB20.

He threw for 2549 yards on 302 attempts with 21 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, and ran for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That came to 23.2 attempts a game at 8.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 92 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.

Samaje Perine was available for 2 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Lamar Jackson scored 17.1 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 11.9 a game between them.

Lamar Jackson finished QB20 and Samaje Perine RB57, which are two different ladders.

Lamar Jackson 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

Lamar Jackson is off in Week 13 and Samaje Perine in Week 6, so either can cover the other's bye.

Lamar Jackson is listed as questionable on the injury report.

What would change the answer

Samaje Perine has only a partial projection, so the market half of this page is whole for only one of them.