The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs made an intriguing addition to their running back room last week as they brought in Samaje Perine on a one-year deal. The veteran became available after being released in roster cutdowns by the division rival Denver Broncos.
The 28-year-old Perine has developed into a reliable passing-down back over the last few years of his career, but head coach Andy Reid believes he can bring more to the table than that now that he's in Kansas City.
"We all know what he did to us when he was at Cincinnati with that screen play, but Samaje's done this over his career, where he's been a phenomenal third-down back, but he's also a good runner," Reid told reporters on Friday, via NFL Media.
"I think that, you know, that he's really a good person. I mean, that word has traveled around the National Football League on what kind of guy he is, a locker room guy, and so on. We welcome that, but the opportunity to have a guy in here that can do the run game and the pass game, I just think he's a good, well-rounded football player that's extremely intelligent, that is a great addition that [general manager] Brett [Veach] added to the team."
The screen play Reid is referring to occurred in the AFC title game in 2022 that sent the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
Samaje Perine goes 41 YARDS for the Bengals TD. pic.twitter.com/bXvWEFUmdP
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 30, 2022
(via @NFL)
That play came on a second-and-long, though Perine has indeed become primarily a third-down back since then. Last season, for example, 39% of his offensive snaps came on third down, according to Tru Media. That was the ninth-highest rate among the 97 running backs who played at least 100 snaps. For what it's worth, one of the eight players ahead of him was Jerick McKinnon, who played 55.1% of his snap load on third downs for Kansas City.
The Broncos also passed the ball on 79.2% of their snaps when Perine was on the field, the seventh-highest rate among the same group of players. Again, McKinnon was one of the small handful of players ahead of him, with the Chiefs passing on 85.3% of his snaps.
Perine's pass-block rate was quite a bit lower at 11.9%, but that still checked in 28th out of those 97 running backs and was well above the 9.2% average for that group. His pass-blocking numbers fell off slightly last year (he allowed multiple sacks for just the second time in his seven seasons) but he has generally been extremely reliable in that role.
To Reid's point about his well-rounded game, Perine's yards-per-carry average has been solid over the last few years, ticking up to 4.4 over the last four seasons after checking in at just 3.5 through his first three. He's also been at 4.5 or better in three of the last four years. He's still primarily a pass catcher and pass protector, though.
Isiah Pacheco is slated to get the majority of carries for the Chiefs entering his third season on the team. Perine had 53 carries last season, but 56 targets -- the first time in his career he received more passes than rushes. He should be expected to play a similar role in K.C., even with Reid highlighting the other ways he can contribute to the team.
