A little more than a month into the 2023 season, there’s an easy-looking solution to at least one offensive problem for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Trade for Denver Broncos running back Samaje Perine.
The Bengals lost Perine to free agency this past offseason and not a single name has been able to stand out in the rotation next to Joe Mixon since. Trayveon Williams had a critical error in Week 5 that had him getting screamed at by Joe Burrow, rookie Chase Brown looked brutally slow in the open field and Chris Evans continues to be unable to get on the field when it matters.
It’s a far cry from Perine, that guy who routinely came in and pass-blocked well, made big plays as a receiver and stiff-armed opponents into the dirt.
One would have to think both sides would be open to a reunion at this point. When Perine left for the Broncos despite a similar offer from the Bengals, he cited uncertainty about his role and wanting to get more usage and the fact Broncos coaches sold him up front on the idea of a two-back system.
But in Thursday’s Week 6 loss, Perine logged just nine of a possible 52 snaps, receiving just two targets. He’s carried the ball just 24 times with 20 targets over six games. If we want to play semantics, over his first six games with the Bengals last season, he had 17 carries and 15 targets.
To say the Bengals and Perine could have helped each other this year would be a gross understatement, though. While Burrow nursed a calf injury, Mixon played what feels like a career-high so far, largely because of the void behind him on the depth chart.
Perine’s Broncos are now 1-5 and one has to wonder if the team won’t go farther away from a 28-year-old back in favor of seeing what younger guys can do, anyway. And if there’s a regime change after this flop with Sean Payton, that same veteran back who has an out built into his contract might not see the second and final year of it in 2024.
Trading to get Perine back would be an admission by the Bengals of making a mistake (something they might need to admit about tight end, too), but it’s the type of public one a Super Bowl contender should seek. They’ll never explicitly say anything other than the guys they have in the building are right for the job, but the asking price would be very low and the benefits huge.
Perine probably should have never left and the proof is right there, so it can’t hurt the Bengals to pick up the phone and ask — especially given the upside.
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