ASHBURN, Va. -- Earlier in the week, Washington Redskins running back Samaje Perine chatted with his position coach, Randy Jordan. Perine's rookie season has been filled with lessons: about running with patience, how he must run differently to break tackles, the tracks he must take on various runs. And then some.

That's why Jordan told Perine: "Your second year will be so much different than your first."

What the Redskins must determine now, however, is whether that second year will be spent as the primary back or if Perine projects to be a nice backup. That's what the final four games will help determine. In his past three starts, Perine has looked like a better runner than he was a month or two ago -- in some cases by a decent amount.

"He's just gotten comfortable," Jordan said. "This kid is going to be good."

The Redskins still have Rob Kelley under contract for next year. But Kelley, an undrafted free agent in 2016, will be coming off an injury-filled season. Perine has a chance to finish strong and, as a fourth-round pick in 2017, the Redskins have more invested in him. That doesn't guarantee him the starting job over Kelley, but if he runs well it certainly would help.

The Redskins also could opt to sign a free agent or draft another running back. They'll get Chris Thompson back next season, but in his usual third-down role.

Perine clearly has developed since the early part of the season as he's adapted to running when the quarterback is under center. He has become more patient, leading to better gains. In the past three games, Perine has rushed for 255 yards, averaging 4.32 yards per carry. He's also averaged 1.97 yards after contact -- compared to 1.39 in his first nine games. In that stretch, he gained only 3.18 yards per run. Jordan also loves that Perine never gets tired or asks to come out.

"The biggest thing for him is the fact that he's continued to grow," Jordan said. "And if he continues to show that growth like he is, then he can be as good as he wants to be. He's got speed, power and he's caught the ball a lot better than I ever thought he would."

There are flashes each game that sum up Perine's improvement. Against the Dallas Cowboys, for example, he paused long enough at the snap on an outside zone to give his blockers time to execute. That enabled him to run through an arm tackle attempt for 15 yards.

But Jordan said some of that results from how much Perine has had to learn. Not only are the playcalls longer, but there's a greater emphasis on detailed footwork for each play. Then there's a different pace to each run as well.

"We've talked about pace a lot," Jordan said. "Every play has a pace. He has a good feel for when he runs tight zone and he runs gap-trapping plays. He has a good feel for, 'Let me let my guys out in front and then I can slow down and read it out.' That's the thing I'm excited about."

But there's more Perine must show, starting with his contact balance. As Jordan talked about this, he pointed out a run by the Pittsburgh Steelers' Le'Veon Bell on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals in which he drove into a would-be tackler for an extra 6 yards. What Jordan liked: how Bell led with his right shoulder and right leg to give him more power. He also liked how Bell's feet were spread.

All of that is what Jordan wants to see from Perine. Too often, Jordan said, Perine's feet are too close together, which limits his power base. Jordan said they can improve that through bag drills and more agility work in the offseason.

"I've seen a difference, but it still needs to be better," Jordan said. "It's having a feel. It's having confidence that, 'Hey, man, I'm 238 pounds and one man will not bring me down. Two men won't bring me down.' It's just having the core strength, just the fact that you run with really good body lean. A lot of times what happens with him is guys come low at him and he's not picking his feet up. So he's stepping through it."

Another factor toward establishing himself as a full-time back will be his work in the passing game. As a pass-blocker, Perine still needs to improve. If he doesn't improve here -- or as a pass-catcher -- a feature role would be difficult.

"He's getting better," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. "We just didn't ask him to do a whole lot of that pass-pro early because we had Chris and Rob. But when he was in the game in base and we did any play-action passes, he was OK in pass protection. The jury's still out on his pass protection. In practice he knows who he's going to and his technique has been fine. It's just a matter of going out and doing it in live action, and we'll see it in the last four weeks."