Samaje Perine

Perine bounced through a couple organizations after entering the league as a fourth-round pick in 2017, eventually finding a home in Cincinnati. He's played 16 games for the Bengals in each of the last two seasons, and he emerged as a useful pass-catching option last year while spelling Joe Mixon on both early and late downs. Perine is a physical runner who doesn't offer much in the way of elusiveness, but that makes him an effective complement to the more nimble Mixon, especially now that the Bengals trust both backs on all downs. There's a sliver of upside for Perine in the backup role if he sees a bigger share of the workload at the goal line, but his real path to production is still if Mixon misses time, in which case 2021 sixth-round pick Chris Evans likely would be the top competition for snaps. Evans was mostly used for his pass- catching skills both in college and as a rookie, meaning the 240-pound Perine is more likely to be tasked with a significant role on the ground if the Bengals don't have Mixon at any point. Read Past Outlooks