Kwity Paye is a super athletic edge rusher from the University of Michigan who topped Bruce Feldman’s freaks list in 2019. He has great size which he supports with freakishly athletic quickness and movement speed for his size. His technique is pretty lacking and he won’t be the greatest player coming into the league, but with some good coaching his ceiling is through the roof.

Strengths: 

  • Very Explosive Player

Kwity Paye is an explosive player who gets off the ball pretty fast and then turns that into a great explosive first step where he gains a lot of ground, and he keeps going after that first step gaining more speed.

  • Great Speed to Power Conversion

Paye then does a great job converting that speed that he built up with his explosiveness into power to move offensive linemen off of their spots. This makes his bull rush very effective.

  • Good Hand Usage

Kwity Paye uses his hands extremely well. They have a lot of pop and it’s evident that offensive lineman are affected by his hands. His jabs are also well placed and well timed, and he does a good job using his hands to protect his chest.

  • Great Pursuit Speed/Quickness

When getting after a quarterback trying to escape or a running back in pursuit Kwity Paye moves like no guy over 270 lbs should be able to move. His speed and quickness is pretty shocking and it allows him to make plays 270 pounders shouldn’t.

  • Great Pad Level

Kwity Paye has great pad level consistently throughout a game which is why it’s so hard for offensive lineman to get to him. His chest is always unavailable and he frequently wins leverage battles.

  • High Motor Player

Kwity Paye has a motor that runs hot throughout the entire game. He’s always in frequent pursuit of offensive players, and he never takes plays off. High effort player to say the least.

Weaknesses: 

  • Game Lacks Nuance

Paye has a great athletic profile and there’s a lot of parts of the game to like but he’s not a very nuanced player just yet. Too often he’s rushing without a plan, and while he has a great arsenal of moves he doesn’t use them as well as he could. Some coaching to make him a more nuanced player could go a long way for his development.

  • Stiff Lower Half

For as great of an athlete as Paye is, oftentimes that doesn’t really show up on his tape. His ankle flexibility is just not there so he’s not really using bend to consistently get around tackles to beat them and instead he drops his hips and tries to run past tackles, which doesn’t work as well.

  • Slow to React to Run

Kwity Paye isn’t a bad run defender if you just ask him to fill one gap. He’ll get his job done and that’s that but he reacts pretty slow to the run and he is very slow to sniff out screens and misdirections. Also not a guy you’re going to find in the backfield on run plays too often. 

Player Comp: My player comparison for Kwity Paye is going to be Emmanuel Ogbah. While this may not be the comparison some people are hoping for a guy with as high of a ceiling as Paye but unfortunately Ogbah is realistically speaking the type of player that Paye could become if he isn’t developed well. Coming out of college both guys had a lot of similarities being bigger guys, who moved great for their size, and were really explosive with great speed to power conversion. Both guys used their hands very well and had great pad level. The pitfalls were very similar with them kind of being slow reacting to the run after and also having games that lacked nuance which caused a lot of inconsistency. One major difference as to why Paye may end up much better than Ogbah is Paye’s high motor which runs hotter and more often than that of Ogbah.

Final Thoughts: I think that I’m overall somewhat low on Kwity Paye although I’m still somewhat close to the general consensus on Paye. Some guys think he’s the top edge rusher in this class and I don’t really see him close to Jaelan Phillips, and I have him as a mid late first round guy while many others have him as an early mid to mid first round player. It must be noted that Kwity Paye is almost strictly limited to 4-3 teams, and teams that play 3-4 should and likely will have him lower on their boards. He can play defensive end on first and second and he has the versatility to come inside on third down and other obvious passing downs. A team fit for Paye would be the Cleveland Browns who don’t really have someone opposite of Myles Garrett, and I trust them to develop Paye well. They also pick in the range a little bit after when I’d first start to consider Paye, although with how highly others view him I think he’ll be long gone before their pick.