Start Samaje Perine or Kaleb Johnson? Week 7

Updated Oct 21, 4:56 PM ET. Locks at kickoff, graded after. Week 8 answer posts Tuesday.

Start Samaje Perine over Kaleb Johnson

Start

Samaje Perine

RB · CIN · at BAL

Market projects: 6.1; fantasy pts
BAL D vs RB: 18.5; 6th fewest to RBs (2026)
Upside: Rising; 68 of 100 at RB
Snap share: 37%; Through Week 5
Target share: 5%; Through Week 5

Sit

Kaleb Johnson

RB · GB · at DET

Market projects: 5.2; recent weeks avg
DET D vs RB: 18.7; 8th fewest to RBs (2026)
Upside: Limited; 18 of 100 at RB
Snap share: 22%; Through Week 6
Target share: 2%; Through Week 6

Should I drop Kaleb Johnson for Samaje Perine?

Yes, on the rest of the season. Samaje Perine projects 50 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (4.5 a game over 11 games), Kaleb Johnson 42 (4.2 a game over 10 games). For Week 7 the call starts Samaje Perine over Kaleb Johnson.

Parlae may earn a commission from price links.

Make this call for your own roster

Sync your league and My Team sets this week's lineup for your actual roster, spot by spot. Free, no account.

Sync my league

Sleeper ESPN Yahoo

Or get it by email

Tuesday 8am ET: one email with what moved on the board and who is worth a claim.

Free. One a week, one tap to stop.

Our Week 7 call

Start Samaje Perine over Kaleb Johnson in Week 7.

Market-based projections have Samaje Perine at 6.1 points and Kaleb Johnson at 5.2, a gap of 0.8. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip. No player market is posted for Kaleb Johnson this week yet, so his 5.2 is the average of his market-based projections in Weeks 4, 5 and 6 (6.7, 6.0 and 3.0); the call is rebuilt when his market posts.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 6.1 fantasy points for Samaje Perine, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market-based projection for Samaje Perine is 21 rushing yards, 8 receiving yards, 1-2 receptions and 0.3 touchdowns (7, 7, 7 and 12 market sources).

No Week 7 player market is posted for Kaleb Johnson yet. His market-based projections were 6.7, 6.0 and 3.0 points in Weeks 4, 5 and 6, an average of 5.2, which stands in until his Week 7 market posts.

That puts Samaje Perine 0.8 points ahead of Kaleb Johnson on these projections.

Week 7 matchups

Samaje Perine and CIN visit BAL on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET.

BAL allowed 18.5 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 6 games, the 6th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 80 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against BAL and caught passes for 14 more yards.

Kaleb Johnson and GB visit DET on Sunday at 4:25 PM ET.

DET allowed 18.7 fantasy points a game to RBs this season over 5 games, the 8th fewest in the league.

Running backs ran for 84 yards and 0.8 touchdowns a game against DET and caught passes for 16 more yards.

By points allowed to the position, Kaleb Johnson has the softer matchup.

Injury status

Samaje Perine is not on the injury report.

Kaleb Johnson is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 7

Through Week 5, Samaje Perine played 37 percent of CIN snaps, took 25 percent of the carries, drew 5 percent of the targets and had 16 percent of the red zone chances.

Samaje Perine, Week 2 against HOU: 24 of 60 snaps, 2 carries for 6 yards, 1 target and 1 catch for 16 yards.

Samaje Perine, Week 3 against PIT: 18 of 57 snaps, 3 carries for 9 yards, 3 targets and 1 catch for 5 yards.

Samaje Perine, Week 4 against JAX: 27 of 76 snaps, 3 carries for 7 yards, 1 target and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Samaje Perine, Week 5 against MIA: 33 of 65 snaps, 14 carries for 68 yards, 2 targets and 2 catches for 10 yards, 1 touchdown.

Through Week 6, Kaleb Johnson played 22 percent of GB snaps, took 29 percent of the carries, drew 2 percent of the targets and had 4 percent of the red zone chances.

Kaleb Johnson, Week 3 against ATL: 24 of 66 snaps, 4 carries for 6 yards, 3 targets and 1 catch for 10 yards.

Kaleb Johnson, Week 4 against TB: 17 of 60 snaps, 8 carries for 42 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Kaleb Johnson, Week 5 against CHI: 9 of 61 snaps, 7 carries for 26 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Kaleb Johnson, Week 6 against DAL: 4 of 75 snaps, 1 carry for -2 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Samaje Perine played 15 games for CIN and scored 77.9 PPR points, 5.2 a game, finishing RB57.

He ran 84 times for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns, and caught 17 of 21 targets for 87 yards.

He was on the field for 34 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

In 2025, Kaleb Johnson played 10 games for PIT and scored 8.8 PPR points, 0.9 a game, finishing RB115.

He ran 28 times for 69 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 1 of 2 targets for 9 yards.

He was on the field for 6 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

Their other Week 7 calls

Locks at kickoff, graded after. When the start/sit engine grades week 7, the call and the result appear on the public record, wrong ones included.

Drop or keep

Should I drop Kaleb Johnson for Samaje Perine?
Yes, on the rest of the season. Samaje Perine projects 50 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (4.5 a game over 11 games), Kaleb Johnson 42 (4.2 a game over 10 games). For Week 7 the call starts Samaje Perine over Kaleb Johnson.
Should I drop Samaje Perine for Kaleb Johnson?
No. Keep Samaje Perine: he projects 50 market-implied PPR points from Week 7 through Week 17 (4.5 a game over 11 games), Kaleb Johnson 42 (4.2 a game over 10 games). For Week 7 the call starts Samaje Perine over Kaleb Johnson.