Start Najee Harris or Samaje Perine? Week 5

Our Week 5 call

Start Najee Harris over Samaje Perine in Week 5.

Market-based projections have Najee Harris at 5.0 points and Samaje Perine at 4.7, a gap of 0.3. That is inside the noise of a single catch, so treat it as close to a coin flip.

What the market projects

Player markets imply 5.0 fantasy points for Najee Harris, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market has Najee Harris at 28.5 rushing yards, with a 19% chance to score a touchdown (16 and 15 market sources).

Player markets imply 4.7 fantasy points for Samaje Perine, with 100 percent of the markets a RB needs posted.

The market has Samaje Perine at 14.5 rushing yards, with a 17% chance to score a touchdown (16 and 15 market sources).

That puts Najee Harris 0.3 points ahead of Samaje Perine on the market projections.

Injury status

Najee Harris is not on the injury report.

Samaje Perine is not on the injury report.

Usage before Week 5

Through Week 4, Najee Harris played 18 percent of NYG snaps, took 27 percent of the carries, drew 0 percent of the targets and had 32 percent of the red zone chances.

Najee Harris, Week 2 against LAR: 8 of 58 snaps, 4 carries for 6 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Najee Harris, Week 3 against TEN: 14 of 64 snaps, 9 carries for 52 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Najee Harris, Week 4 against ARI: 12 of 67 snaps, 9 carries for 30 yards, 0 targets and 0 catches for 0 yards.

Through Week 4, Samaje Perine played 34 percent of CIN snaps, took 16 percent of the carries, drew 5 percent of the targets and had 10 percent of the red zone chances.

Samaje Perine, Week 1 against TB: 18 of 64 snaps, 5 carries for 20 yards, 3 targets and 3 catches for 30 yards.

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.

Their 2025 seasons

In 2025, Najee Harris played 3 games for LAC and scored 11.6 PPR points, 3.9 a game, finishing RB105.

He ran 15 times for 61 yards and 0 touchdowns, and caught 3 of 3 targets for 25 yards.

He was on the field for 21 percent of the offense's snaps in the games he played.

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.

Their other Week 5 calls

• Start Blake Corum over Najee Harris.
• Start Brian Robinson over Najee Harris.
• Start Najee Harris over Chris Rodriguez Jr..
• Start Blake Corum over Samaje Perine.
• Start Brian Robinson over Samaje Perine.
• Start Samaje Perine over Chris Rodriguez Jr..