The Las Vegas Raiders needed to add some defensive talent to the roster heading into NFL free agency and signed former Indianapolis Colts edge defender Kwity Paye to a three-year, $48 million contract. After being tabbed as his replacement when the signing was first announced, the 2021 first-round pick will be Maxx Crosby’s running mate.
Having 30.5 career sacks and 37 TFLs over five years certainly makes Paye seem like a natural fit for that role on paper. However, he’s never logged more than 40 pressures in a season and is coming off a campaign where he posted a career low four sacks and just 38 pressures despite recording the second-most pass-rush snaps (408) since entering the league, per Pro Football Focus.
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That being said, the Michigan product does provide some value as a run defender. He’s earned above-average PFF run defense grades in each of the last four seasons, topping out with an impressive 78.1 mark in 2023. He recorded 13 ‘defensive stops’ (tied for 48th among edge defenders during the regular season) against the run this past year, and had 18 (tied for 27th) in 15 games three years ago.
After taking in all of the numbers, let’s flip on the tape and take a look at what Paye can bring to Las Vegas.
Setting the edge is arguably the former Colt’s biggest strength. He can do it the traditional way, taking on a base block from an offensive lineman (see below), or against pullers like in the clip above.
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The Arizona Cardinals run a pull-lead concept, meaning the pullers are coming from the playside rather than the backside as they would on a power or counter run. That’s significant because it means the edge defender has less time to recognize that a 330-pound offensive lineman is coming with a head of steam to kick them out, and the defender has less time to get into a position to take on the block.
But once Paye sees the tight end step down and block the off-ball linebacker, he gets his eyes inside, bends his knees to get low and sets a wide base to brace for contact. At the point of attack, Paye does a good job of getting his hands inside and on the puller’s chest to knock the puller off-balance, defeat the block and get involved in the tackle for loss.
This time, the Cardinals run a standard outside zone from their jumbo package with two tight ends and an extra offensive lineman on the field, putting the lineman across from Paye and running to that side of the formation. But the edge defender is ready for it.
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He’s quick to get his hands up, works laterally with his first few steps to maintain outside positioning on the block, and has the strength to reset the line of scrimmage. Also, this is where the former first-round pick’s 33-inch arms come in handy, allowing him to get extension on the block and preventing the lineman from grabbing onto him.
That, combined with some help from defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, allows him to escape the block and make the tackle for a short gain.
As the defensive run game coordinator last year, Rob Leornard put together a handful of run stunts that helped the Raiders create negative plays in that phase of the game. So, I’d expect that to continue and might be an even bigger part of the Raiders’ playbook now that Leonard is calling shots as the defensive coordinator. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of the reason the front office went after Paye in free agency.
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The Michigan product is a good athlete for his size, earning a 9.75 RAS as an edge defender at the NFL combine. Combined with the strength seen previously (he put up 36 bench press reps, by the way), he can use his athleticism as a change of pace and make offensive linemen miss when stunting, as seen in the rep above.
Indianapolis has its safety (No. 0) and edge gap exchange (notice how Paye taps his right hamstring pre-snap to confirm to No. 0 that the twist is on), where Paye slants into the B-gap and the safety blitzes on the outside to contain the edge.
Post-snap, Paye’s first step is up the field as if it were a normal play call, which gets the right tackle to attack him with the tackle’s momentum going up the field and slightly toward the sideline. Then, the defender uses his quickness, lateral movement skills and rip move to make the tackle miss, get penetration and come up with the tackle for loss.
Speaking of stunts, the best sack the five-year pro had last season came as the looper on a line game. This is also where his athleticism stands out the most as a pass-rusher.
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The Colts call a T/E stunt here, where the defensive tackle draws the guard up the field and occupies the guard by attacking the right tackle’s inside shoulder. Meanwhile, Paye does a good job of disguising the game by working up the field with his first three steps before using his lateral movement skills to exploit the inside rushing lane that the defensive tackle created.
Paye’s agility allows him to have no wasted movement and gain some ground while working laterally. On top of that, he shows some good closing speed on the quarterback to finish with a sack. This is something the Raiders can take advantage of with defensive tackle Adam Butler, who is a good penetrator in line games to create rushing lanes for edge-rushers like the one above.
Paye still isn’t consistent with it, but he has shown flashes of beeing a solid power rusher with a long-arm move. Here, he does a good job of getting his hand on the V of the offensive tackle’s neck and locks his arm out to keep the tackle’s hands off his body. That, combined with the pass-rusher’s overall strength, allows him create a short corner by pushing through the tackle’s outside shoulder to get a pressure and force the incompletion.
Overall, the Raiders did get a quality edge-setter to play on the other side of Crosby and help stop the run by signing Paye. But as a pass-rusher, he isn’t a consistent winner and has colleted a lot of coverage or clean up sacks, hence the low pressure numbers but high sack total.
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The former first-round pick’s combination of size, strength and athleticism give him the potential to develop or grow in that area, but he’s been in the league for five years so it’s fair to question why he hasn’t put it all together yet. Hopefully, Leonard can work some of his magic and get the most out of Paye.
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