Indianapolis Colts add an athletic pass rusher in Kwity Paye

The smart money going into the 2021 NFL Draft was that the Indianapolis Colts would address the offensive line with their first-round selection. This was a need as the team needs to find a left tackle to replace Anthony Castonzo who retired this offseason. A player who would have filled this need is Virginia Tech offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw, however, the team decided to address the defensive side of the ball instead with the selection of Michigan defensive end Kwity Paye.

Michigan’s Kwity Paye was ranked as the fourth-best defensive end in the 2021 NFL Draft and the 20th best player overall in the draft. So even though Darrisaw might have filled more of a need for the  Indianapolis Colts Paye was still a solid pick overall.

The top asset with Paye is his outstanding athletic ability as he was one of the more athletic defensive linemen in the 2021 NFL Draft. At his pro day, he posted a 4.57 40-yard dash and also bench pressed 225 pounds 36 times showing a great speed and strength combination. To go along with his impressive athletic ability he is a hard worker who has improved each year he has been in college.

While Paye does possess the natural talent to develop into a quality defensive end in the NFL he does have some things to work on to reach this potential. One of these is his poor stance which causes him to use short choppy steps and loses some of his power. He also could work on adding some variety to his pass-rushing moves.

Overall, Paye was a solid addition to the Indianapolis Colts and while he doesn’t address the team’s biggest draft need he does help out in an area the team wanted to address in the 2021 NFL Draft. It would not be a surprise if Paye developed into a multi-year starter in the NFL and pushed for a spot in the Pro Bowl in a couple of years.