Samaje Perine Gets Second Chance With Bengals

Samaje Perine always was good at breaking tackles.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s career rushing leader plowed through another obstacle when he rejoined the Cincinnati Bengals off waivers following his release from the Miami Dolphins last week.

The 5-foot-11, 240-pound Perine, was with the Bengals for most of last season on both the active roster and the practice squad, but was signed by Miami off the Bengals’ practice squad for the 2019 season finale.

After starring for three seasons at OU (2014-16), Perine was a fourth-round draft pick by the Washington Redskins in 2017, and he played in Washington with former Sooner great Adrian Peterson in 2018 before being released.

Now he’ll be reunite with his former OU backfield mate Joe Mixon, who has run for more than 1,100 yards in each of his last two seasons in Cincinnati. Perine also rejoins former Sooner Rodney Anderson, who missed most of last season with a knee injury but currently remains on the Bengals roster.

He'll also be playing for second-year head coach Zac Taylor, son of former Sooner defensive back Sherwood Taylor. Zac Taylor and the Bengals took the franchise in a new direction last week when they drafted LSU's Joe Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick after going 2-14 last season.

Perine has played in 28 NFL career games, including eight starts, and has 188 rushes for 651 yards and one touchdown in his career, as well as 25 catches for 187 yards and a TD.

In three years as a starter at OU, Perine rushed for a school-record 4,122 yards, surpassing Billy Sims (4,118) in his final game.

Perine also set the school — and the all-time NCAA — single game rushing record with 427 yards against Kansas.

Perine holds the OU record for most all-purpose yards in a game (446), while Mixon holds the OU record for most all-purpose yards in a season (2,331).

Perine, Peterson and De’Mond Parker are the only Sooners to rush for 1,000 yards in a season three times. Perine’s 2014 true freshman total of 1,713 yards is the fifth-best single-season total in OU history. Perine also ran for 1,349 yards in 2015 and 1,060 in 2016.

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