The Denver Broncos entered the season with RB Javonte Williams coming off major knee surgery. With that, the Broncos brought in veteran RB Samaje Perine to serve as the backup and potentially even a lead back if Williams wasn’t ready at the start of the season. Through two weeks, it looks like Williams is good and should continue to be the RB1 for Denver. That has limited Perine’s role to strictly the passing game through two unproductive weeks. We’re going to look at whether or not it’s worth dropping Perine in fantasy football this early in the season.
Fantasy football outlook: Broncos RB Samaje Perine
Perine had eight carries for 41 yards and four catches for 37 yards in Week 1. In PPR, that’s a pretty solid day for a RB in the FLEX spot or even RB2 slot, to be honest. In Week 2, Perine regressed down to four touches — one carry for four yards and three catches for 20 yards. That’s a pretty big drop off. Meanwhile, Williams has had at least 12 carries in each of the first two games (25 total). He also has six catches on nine targets, so it isn’t like Perine is the sole passing-down back.
Verdict
Unless you have Williams on your roster, it’s probably OK to dump Perine. Particularly in standard leagues, being as Perine didn’t get carries in Week 2 but saw some targets. So in standard, go ahead and drop him. He’s still a strong handcuff for Williams considering he is coming off a major knee injury. Risk of re-injury is high in this case. But really Perine isn’t worth starting week-to-week. Even if he has productive weeks in PPR, there’s a lot of risk there. Chances are you can find someone with better long-term value on the waiver wire this early in the season.
