Should I start Samaje Perine or Tanner McKee in Week 7?

Updated Oct 21, 2:41 PM ET. Week 8 answers post Tuesday.

Start Tanner McKee: 100 percent of the snaps and 0 percent of the targets over their last 3 games, against Samaje Perine's 39 percent of the snaps and 32 percent of the carries. No market projection is posted on either of them this week, so this is a usage call, and a lower confidence one than a call made on a projection. What follows is what each of them has done.

Should I drop Samaje Perine for Tanner McKee?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Tanner McKee projects 135 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (13.5 a game over 10 games), Samaje Perine 50 (4.5 a game over 11 games).

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More fantasy football tools and rankings, all built from the same board.

Neither man carries a season projection right now, so this is their usage this season and their last full season's numbers, side by side.

Samaje Perine

RB47 · CIN · bye 6

2026 vs carries line 2-3

Overall rank: 133

Tanner McKee

QB22 · PHI · bye unlisted

Overall rank: 134

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The gap

Board size309 draftable players

Draft data is not current for these two, so the figures that depend on it are left out. The call above comes from each player's usage.

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on Samaje Perine, and the board ranks him 133rd overall on the rest of his evidence.

Live drafts hold no current pick on Tanner McKee, and the board ranks him 134th overall on the rest of his evidence.

The market-based projections

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 1.7 PPR points a game off 1 market across 9 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 Tanner McKee is 13.7 PPR points a game off 3 markets across 12 market sources. That is 70 percent of what a quarterback'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 5, Samaje Perine has been on the field for 37 percent of CIN snaps, taken 25 percent of the carries, drawn 5 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 6 of the offence's 46 third down targets, had 0 of its 12 chances inside the five and seen 0 of its 33 two minute targets.

His 10 targets have averaged 1.3 air yards.

In Week 3 against PIT he carried 3 times for 9 yards, caught 1 of 3 targets for 5 yards and did not score.

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.

Through Week 6, Tanner McKee has been on the field for 100 percent of PHI snaps, dropped back 48 times and thrown 8.0 air yards an attempt.

He has been sacked or hit on 10 of 48 dropbacks.

In Week 6 against CAR he completed 26 of 45 passes for 215 yards, threw 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions and ran 1 time for 0 yards.

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 Tanner McKee played 4 games and scored 14.8 PPR points, 3.7 a game, finishing QB55.

He threw for 274 yards on 43 attempts with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, and ran for 8 yards and 0 touchdowns.

That came to 10.8 attempts a game at 6.4 yards an attempt.

He was on the field for 3 percent of the snaps in the games he played.

Samaje Perine was available for 11 games more.

Side by side

In 2025 Samaje Perine scored 5.2 PPR points a game and Tanner McKee 3.7, 1.5 a game between them.

Samaje Perine finished RB57 and Tanner McKee QB55, which are two different ladders.

Samaje Perine is a running back and Tanner McKee a quarterback, 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. No bye is listed for Tanner McKee.

Drop or keep

Should I drop Samaje Perine for Tanner McKee?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Tanner McKee projects 135 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (13.5 a game over 10 games), Samaje Perine 50 (4.5 a game over 11 games).
Should I drop Tanner McKee for Samaje Perine?
No. Keep Tanner McKee: he projects 135 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (13.5 a game over 10 games), Samaje Perine 50 (4.5 a game over 11 games).