Should I start Samaje Perine or Rico Dowdle in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 158th overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Rico Dowdle, and the board ranks him 175th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 2.1 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. 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 Rico Dowdle is 1.8 PPR points a game off 1 market across 1 market source. 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, Rico Dowdle has been on the field for 38 percent of PIT snaps, taken 34 percent of the carries, drawn 12 percent of the targets and had 25 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 1 of the offence's 36 third down targets, had 0 of its 5 chances inside the five and seen 2 of its 24 two minute targets.

His 17 targets have come 0.6 yards behind the line of scrimmage on average.

In Week 2 against NE he carried 7 times for 22 yards, caught 2 of 2 targets for 22 yards and did not score.

In Week 6 against TB he carried 7 times for 40 yards, caught 3 of 4 targets for 9 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against NO he carried 9 times for 41 yards, caught 6 of 6 targets for 45 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 Rico Dowdle played 17 games and scored 216.3 PPR points, 12.7 a game, finishing RB18.

He carried 236 times for 1076 yards and 6 touchdowns, and caught 39 of 50 targets for 297 more yards.

That came to 13.9 carries a game at 4.6 yards a carry and 2.3 catches a game.

He was on the field for 56 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Rico Dowdle was available for 2 games more.

Head to head

In 2025 Rico Dowdle scored 12.7 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 7.5 a game between them.

Samaje Perine finished RB57 that year and Rico Dowdle RB18.

Rico Dowdle had 152 more carries than Samaje Perine, 236 to 84.

Rico Dowdle had 22 more catches than Samaje Perine, 39 to 17.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger snap share, 38 percent against 35 percent.

This season Rico Dowdle holds the bigger share of the carries, 34 percent against 24 percent.

Byes and availability

Samaje Perine is off in Week 6 and Rico Dowdle in Week 9, so either can cover the other's bye.