On the first day of free agency, the Cincinnati Bengals bolstered the backfield by bringing back a familiar face as the team signed veteran running back Samaje Perine to a two-year deal. Perine previously played with the Bengals in 2019, and then again from 2020 to 2022, and now he'll have a third stint with the team.
Perine will likely occupy a reserve role behind starting back Chase Brown, much like he did during his previous stints with the team when Joe Mixon was the lead back.
Bengals should move on from Zack Moss following the addition of Samaje Perine
Cincinnati is clearly comfortable with Perine and knows what he will bring to the table. His addition also brings about a painfully obvious cut for the Bengals to make and could spell the end of Zack Moss' time in Cincinnati.
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Moss had an underwhelming 2024 campaign, due in part to a neck injury that ended his season and limited him to just eight total games played. His status moving forward from that injury remains murky at this point. Once he's medically cleared, the Bengals could look to move on.
In his eight appearances, Moss ran for just 242 yards and two touchdowns on 72 carries. He ultimately lost the starting spot to Brown before being knocked out of action with the neck injury.
If he remains on the roster moving forward it would clearly be in a backup capacity, but the addition of Perine might make his presence superfluous. The Bengals signed Moss to a two-year contract last offseason, but they can save close to $5 million against the cap by releasing him this offseason, and that's money that could likely be better used elsewhere.
This is nothing against Moss specifically. He did what was asked of him, but the emergence of Brown last season coupled with the addition of Perine just means that he isn't necessarily needed on the roster as currently constructed.
Cincinnati needs all the cap space it can get to work out long-term deals for the likes of Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson, and freeing up the money from Moss' contract could be helpful in that regard.