All the Carson Steele hype during the offseason really buried the Samaje Perine lede, didn’t it? Fantasy managers everywhere were intrigued, to say the least, when Perine—a veteran receiving back—came to Kansas City to fill the Jerick McKinnon role. But Steele stole headlines in the preseason, and Perine’s name was largely forgotten. An season of unremarkable production, thus far, hasn’t helped that.
Now Kareem Hunt has entered the picture, and folks are less interested in Perine than ever. Steele has faded from the collective fantasy manager’s consciousness; so too has Samaje. But, really, neither should. Perine least of which.
This is where nimble fantasy managers—perhaps fantasy managers who are leading glorious, playoff-bound 3-1 or 4-0 squads—would think to buy Perine, deep league or not.
Analysis
A duo of Kareem Hunt and Carson Steele are unlikely to be sufficient for the Chiefs—both in terms of production and workload—all season long. The Chiefs are going to need to get creative with their backfield, as they’ve done in the past with receiving backs like Jerick McKinnon.
Case in point: Hunt is already ailing from a shoulder injury that’s kept him limited in practice so far this week. That’s after one game of NFL action!
Barring injury or some midseason acquisition, Samaje Perine should have a fairly major role to play going forward in Kansas City. Gone are Hollywood Brown and Rashee Rice from the receiving core. Xavier Worthy is as raw as it gets. Kelce isn’t going to be the full answer, either. Put simply, the Chiefs haven’t gotten enough out of Perine yet.
Perine’s 2023 season final line was: 238 rushing yards, 455 receiving yards, and one touchdown. His usage right now has him projected, by the end of the 2024 season, to finish with 166 rushing yards and 119 receiving yards. The Chiefs didn’t acquire Perine with plans to cut his production by two-thirds, even when Isiah Pacheco was healthy.
Bottom Line
In 2022, Jerick McKinnon converted 56 receptions into 512 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns with Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback. Much of that came in late in the NFL regular season, and during the fantasy football playoffs.
I believe Perine is going to return similar value as the season goes on, and will be a fine weekly flex play, at some point, for fantasy managers during the 2024 season. If Hunt misses Week 5, the Perine train might leave the station this week. But I’m not sure that’ll happen.
This is a long-game play. Grab Perine if you’re feeling like you can afford a bench spot for an asset that might take time to generate its peak revenue.
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