Should I start T.J. Hockenson or Samaje Perine in Week 8?

Where the draft room stands

Live drafts hold no current pick on T.J. Hockenson, and the board ranks him 66th overall on the rest of his evidence.

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

The market-based projections

T.J. Hockenson's market-based projection is 10.4 PPR points a game, built from 3 markets across 13 market sources. That is the 72nd 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 through Week 7

Through Week 7, T.J. Hockenson has been on the field for 63 percent of MIN snaps, drawn 21 percent of the targets and had 18 percent of the red zone chances.

He has taken 11 of the offence's 59 third down targets, had 1 of its 3 chances inside the five and seen 3 of its 14 two minute targets.

His 32 targets have averaged 6.8 air yards.

In Week 4 against MIA he caught 13 of 13 targets for 119 yards and did not score.

In Week 5 against NO he caught 1 of 1 target for 7 yards and did not score.

In Week 7 against IND he caught 4 of 5 targets for 35 yards and scored 1 touchdown.

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 T.J. Hockenson played 15 games and scored 112.8 PPR points, 7.5 a game, finishing TE26.

He caught 51 of 66 targets for 438 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 11 red zone targets.

That came to 4.4 targets a game, a 77 percent catch rate and 8.6 yards a catch.

He was on the field for 79 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.

Both were available for 15 games that season.

Side by side

In 2025 T.J. Hockenson scored 7.5 PPR points a game and Samaje Perine 5.2, 2.3 a game between them.

T.J. Hockenson finished TE26 and Samaje Perine RB57, which are two different ladders.

T.J. Hockenson is a tight end 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

Both are off in Week 6, so a roster holding the pair has that one week to cover twice.

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.