The 13 Most Undervalued Players in Fantasy Football

Samaje Perine, RB, Washington Redskins

Rookie running backs in favorable situations usually get a good bit of hype. Samaje Perine hasn't.

From purely a prospecting standpoint, Perine doesn't pop out as someone who'd make a clear impact at the NFL level. During his final season at Oklahoma, he had below-average market share numbers across the board -- rushing attempts, rushing yards, receptions, receiving yards -- and his athletic profile isn't overly strong, ranking near the bottom quarter percentile in speed score (weight-adjusted 40-yard dash time).

That doesn't mean he won't be effective at the NFL level. Because we're -- I'm -- going to be wrong with prospect evaluation all the time.

So let's move past the meh college profile and assume Perine isn't some complete bust at the NFL level. (For the record, it's easy to see why his production was down considering he shared a backfield with one of the most talented backs in the draft in Joe Mixon.)

The most important thing a player needs to be successful in fantasy football is, as we know, opportunity. And to get opportunity, a player -- a running back in this case -- has to beat out his teammates for work.

Perine's competition? A plodding runner who had a super-below-average Success Rate (percentage of positive expected point runs) last season in Rob Kelley.

With pass-catcher Chris Thompson in the mix, it's understandable if you don't see extreme upside for Perine, especially in PPR formats. Even still, if he can beat out the dad-running Kelley, he's in for a treat. Washington ranked second in yards per drive last season and 13th the year before, and despite not having a true number-one running back a season ago, they still finished in the top half as a team in fantasy points scored at the running back position.

You don't have to love Perine as a prospect to select him in redraft leagues this year.