The Bengals will be back in action in Week 7 after their bye week, and running back Samaje Perine can be a sneaky fantasy football sleeper to target from this week’s waiver wire. Perine saw a significant usage increase before the bye week and was effective in his larger role. With some favorable matchups in the coming weeks, he’s definitely worth a look in deep leagues.
Let’s take a look at Perine’s trending value in the last few weeks and his potential upside going forward.
Samaje Perine’s Growing Role
Perine was a fourth-round pick by Washington in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma. He started eight games as a rookie but has mostly played a complementary role in timeshares. He was waived by Washington before the 2019 season, joined the Bengals’ practice squad, and spent time later in the season with the Dolphins. He went back to the Bengals and spent three more seasons in Cincinnati before signing as a free agent with the Broncos for the 2023 season and the Chiefs for the 2024 season.
Last year, he returned to Cincinnati for a third stint with the team. He finished the year with 382 rushing yards, 87 receiving yards, and three touchdowns. He begans in a very minimal role but worked into a larger piece of the timeshare by the end of the regular season.
This year, he was set in a complementary role coming into training camp and secured that backup position coming into the season. He played 28% of snaps in Week 1, 40% of snaps in Week 2, and worked his way all the way up to 51% of snaps in Week 5 just before the bye week.
He had his best game of the season in Week 5 against the Dolphins, taking 14 carries for 68 yards and catching both of his targets for 10 yards and a touchdown.
Samaje Perine Fantasy Football Outlook
While Perine was making the most of his opportunities in that game against the Dolphins, starting RB Chase Brown had 13 carries for 39 rushing yards and added three catches for 21 yards. He only played 60% of snaps, his lowest mark of the season, and he also lost a fumble.
After the game, offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said the team will “continually assess how that touch share between [Perine] and Chase Brown should play out.” He went on to explain that Perine is a better fit when the team runs the ball more from the shotgun formation, which was very effective against Miami.
Brown rushed for over 1,000 yards last year with 69 catches out of the backfield and 11 total touchdowns. He was one of the best fantasy running backs and had strong momentum coming into the year, but he has struggled, rushing for 246 yards on 71 carries. After averaging 4.4 yards per carry in 2025, he has only averaged 3.5 yards per carry this season. In contrast, Perine has averaged 4.1 yards per carry.
Perine’s expanded role could prove to be a one-week outlier, but based on Pitcher’s comments, it could also be a more lasting shift. If Perine is able to get 10 to 15 touches per game, he’ll be a deep league FLEX option, especially working through the bye weeks coming up.
The Bengals return with a matchup against the Ravens in Week 7 and then have a favorable stretch of matchups against the Titans, Falcons and Steelers.
The Bottom Line: Add Samaje Perine in Deep Leagues
Perine can definitely be a fantasy football sleeper to utilize in the next few weeks if he stays in his larger role. He has proven that he is a reliable option on passing downs and in the red zone, making him a great pickup from the waiver wire if you need a fill-in option at running back in the coming weeks. He’s not a regular top-20 option yet, so he isn’t a locked-in starter in standard-sized leagues, but he has RB3 and FLEX upside.
In Week 7, Perine also makes sense to consider for DFS contests on DraftKings like the NFL $2.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st, $100K Leaderboard Eligible]. He only has a $4,600 salary in this week’s matchup against Baltimore, and he could be one of the best plays under $5,000, depending on how the workloads across the position play out.
