Kwity Paye to the Colts!
April 29th, 2021 at 10:55 PM ^
At long last, a Wolverine gets to play in Indy.
April 29th, 2021 at 11:07 PM ^
damn it
April 30th, 2021 at 12:45 AM ^
Didn’t UM just go to an Elite 8 in Indy? Like, a month-ish ago?
April 30th, 2021 at 12:52 AM ^
Keep the basketball positivity out of the football threads please. Sometimes you just want to feel shitty and depressed in a thread and not be reminded that our basketball program is on the verge of greatness. It’s a very delicate balance.
April 29th, 2021 at 10:56 PM ^
A whole lot of “he needs to be coached up”...subtly throwing the coaching staff under the bus.
April 29th, 2021 at 10:59 PM ^
Technically maybe. But they’re evaluating on sacks and that shows that they didn’t know Michigan’s situation when evaluating him. If Michigan had better DTs, Paye would have had more of a chance to get those sacks.
April 29th, 2021 at 11:09 PM ^
You have to admit that he is more of a run stopper type of DE.
April 29th, 2021 at 11:17 PM ^
He’s a former track star who The Atlantic had as the best pure athlete in college football last year. He’s a rusher w/ what is considered untapped potential.
April 30th, 2021 at 12:55 AM ^
The Atlantic had moved on from political coverage now?
With last year being what it was I don’t feel like I really got to see Paye play. Glad he went so high.
April 30th, 2021 at 12:39 PM ^
He's going to get a big Paye day.
Perhaps seth or brian or someone can confirm or refute but didn't he play anchor? If he did, he's not supposed to get sacks, his job is to eat up blocks.
That's what Brown asked him to do, since our DTs were not strong enough to hold up the interior.
agree. i think the "experts" are evaluating him on production/numbers vs how he actually looked on the field. most on this site felt he deserved more PT during his career here.
I rarely rely on the "experts". I just watched the Brady 6 documentary, and listening to Steve Marriuchi talk about Brady and the Michigan coaches having no faith in Tom, and I thought to myself, this idiot clearly has no grasp on the situation between Henson and Brady and Carr's stuck in a hard decision either way. The experts need to do a little more homework.
But they’re evaluating on sacks and that shows that they didn’t know Michigan’s situation when evaluating him. If Michigan had better DTs, Paye would have had more of a chance to get those sacks.
They said that about Gary too. In fairness to Gary his sack numbers did improve in '20 from '19, but still nothing yet to warrant his recruiting profile. As a point of comparison Nick Bosa recorded more sacks in his rookie year than Gary has in his two years combined. Bosa is no recruiting slouch either as he was a 5-star, but in terms of all time HS recruits Gary is 136 places higher than him and the #3 highest rated HS recruit of all time only behind Clowney & Nkemdiche.
I won't argue that Bosa may be a better rusher than Gary, but that is a bit of a non-sequitur.
It seems like you're willfully ignoring the responsibilities of Anchor. Play run first, then hold up the edge and take up to blockers so the blitzers get home. This field has been relatively well plowed both here and on draft day the other year...
It seems like you're willfully ignoring the responsibilities of Anchor. Play run first, then hold up the edge and take up to blockers so the blitzers get home.
1) Didn't Bosa play the same position at OSU and put up better numbers? 2) Gary does not play that position in the NFL yet his sack numbers remain average.
You say that like average sack numbers in the *nfl* isn’t all that impressive.
I’m admittedly arguing from a position of complete ignorance but somehow I suspect if you looked up other folks with “average” sack numbers they were mostly badass players in college.
Cheers.
You say that like average sack numbers in the *nfl* isn’t all that impressive.
It isn't for a guy that was one of the highest rated recruits of all time. I'm not expecting him to also be one of the highest sack leaders of all time, but I would expect him to be in say, the top 10 in sacks, yet guys like Frank Clark get more sacks.
I’m admittedly arguing from a position of complete ignorance but somehow I suspect if you looked up other folks with “average” sack numbers they were mostly badass players in college.
I don't know how to calculate "average" in terms of an NFL starter for his position short of find every starter that plays in that same scheme and calculating their sack numbers. That's probably not worth anyone's time to figure that out. But, Gary got 2 sacks in 2019. For example, Frank Clark had 8 sacks and there were 23 guys with more sacks than him. In 2020 Clark had 6 sacks (Gary had 5) and there were 32 guys with more sacks. That kinda sounds like below "average" to me.
Interesting that all three of those guys are considered some flavor of disappointing. Clowney has been the best (he was truly a world destroying beast in college), but even he has disappointed in the NFL given the hype coming out of college.
Interesting that all three of those guys are considered some flavor of disappointing. Clowney has been the best (he was truly a world destroying beast in college), but even he has disappointed in the NFL given the hype coming out of college.
When you're one of the best recruits of all time it's hard to live up to that minus being one of the best of all time in college and/or the NFL. But, Clowney was that in college. I mean, I'd happily hang my hat on Gary's UM numbers if he produced in college what Clowney did. But, the argument was that UM's scheme was what held Gary's sack numbers back. His lack of sacks in the NFL seem to discredit that theory. You can have it either way, but you can't have it both ways. Either UM's scheme held him back and Gary should now be one of the NFL's best sack leaders. Or he should have produced more sacks at UM. One of those is a criticism. I'm not sure which, but I believe he is simply a run of the mill overrated guy with a lot of measurable athleticism, but who is simply not the elite football player his recruiting profile would lead you to believe. People will continue to give him chances because they think they can teach him how to be great because he is so athletic. However, his production has still not caught up to his potential and probably never will.
April 30th, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^
He's also a refugee immigrant from Providence; he was really raw when he came to Michigan.
Dude's come a long way, and his Michigan experience has served him well.
Congratulations Kwity! You are a very easy young man to root for!
Is Providence the capital of Liberia?
April 30th, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
nobody has any idea what Kwity Paye is really capable of....."Developed" by a staff that looks worse and worse with each passing year and having to play next to MAC level interior DT's (and that's being charitable).....There aren't a lot of humans that size with that kind of speed, however, and so in year with a ton of question mark edge rushers, he seems as a good a dice roll as any (especially given his background and improvement in only a few years) towards the end of the first round.... Hoping he succeeds at the NFL level as he's already put in a lot of work to get where he is....
There's plenty of great reasons to criticize Michigan's coaching over the years but Kwity's development is not one. If you are determined to be cynical, which seems to be a hallmark of this fanbase, you could say that he is the exception that proves the rule. Michigan, and, yes, Don Brown, did a wonderful job coaching this young man.
That is not to take away from the work he put in. No one is more responsible for Kwity's success that Kwity himself (and his mom). But the coaches put him in the position to blow up and you'd have to be a deranged HaRbaUgh SuXS freak not to recognize this
This pretty much seems to be every early round draft pick Michigan sends to the NFL where it’s either they were played in the wrong scheme or need to be coached up. I know I’m a Michigan fan and often put in my ear plugs and have blinders on but it always seems like people love to take shots at Michigan and/or Harbaugh. Why couldn’t they rave about how far he’s came and from his background instead of making it seem like he’s a victim of coaching inefficiency?
This is the correct response to the boo birds....just ignore the fact that Kwity Paye was a 3* player with an offer from Boston College, that Michigan turned into a 1st round draft pick? Does he still need coaching, sure.....most college draft picks do.
IIRC... recently, there was a post about a sure first round pick from Bama that took exception to a "sports writer" that pointed out his weaknesses. The "experts" always point out the downside of every player in their draft analysis. Sometimes just for the clicks.
Exactly this.
This fan base bitches and moans about the "Don Brown 3 star NE recruits". They also bitch about not developing talent.
One of those 3 star recruits just got drafted in the first round of the NFL draft.
Now, those same people are jumping on to bitch about how he was under developed by the coaching staff? What in the actual hell? ?♂️?
It's like some of these people just want to bitch, instead of being happy.
A 3 star player, from Rhode Island, just got drafted higher than Alan Branch, David Harris, Lamar Woodley, Frank Clark, and MANY others did. How about you go look at their recruiting rankings, and see how they were rated, compared to Kwitty.
Let's stop with the BS, and make this post less about throwing shots at the coaches, and be happy about the young man.....and the fact that Michigan just produced a 1st round draft pick.
April 30th, 2021 at 10:29 AM ^
Thank you, my thoughts exactly. Not only was Paye a 3 star recruit, he was not initially a DE, had to switch positions and was very raw. To see him develop into a first round pick is actually quite inspiring and evidence of fantastic development by the staff. Of course he still needs coaching on his technique because he is still relatively new at the position.
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April 30th, 2021 at 10:44 AM ^
The last few drafts have been full of "potential star with an inexplicable lack of touches/production at Michigan."
We're getting folks to the NFL. Which is nice for them and good for recruiting.
April 29th, 2021 at 10:59 PM ^
Congrats Kwity and thanks Colts for giving us someone awesome to cheer for!
April 29th, 2021 at 11:00 PM ^
Colts are a great fit for him. He'll be amazing next to Buckner and Leonard. His numerous pressures at Michigan never manifested into sacks because our interior pass rush has been atrocious
Side Note: These ESPN draft analysts are so inconsistent and full of shit. They criticize Kwity for his lack of sacks and say his pressures don't count, then they say that Gregory Rousseau's 15 sacks don't count because they weren't "real sacks," then they proceed to drool over Jayson Oweh and say his 0 sacks don't matter because of how athletic he is and that he was so close to some sacks. Like that is an impressive level of hypocrisy
April 29th, 2021 at 11:28 PM ^
Kwity goes three picks ahead of Najee. What would have been the odds of that 4 years ago, when we were all drooling over Najee and saying, “Kwity who?”
April 29th, 2021 at 11:38 PM ^
Wow. Najee sucks. Turns out it was all for the best that Michigan didn't get him.
"Hey, isn't it cool that our under the radar three star was drafted around the same time that the can't miss five star who briefly considered flipping to us?"
This board-"Go fuck yourself, any acknowledgement of a nice thing is treasonous"
Getting drafted where Kwity Paye got drafted is in itself a nice thing. Najee Harris has NOTHING to do with this. It's just framing the situation in a very specific way to try to both praise Paye and shit on Najee Harris. We also recruited Alex Leatherwood who got drafted ahead of Paye. Does this mean we should devalue Paye? Of course not.
Hold on there. Are you suggesting that our immediate reaction based on hype might be WRONG? That things might turn out differently than we expect?
Heresy!
April 30th, 2021 at 12:10 AM ^
DE’s are always considered better value. RB in the 1st is risky to begin with, so the fact that it happened was a testament to his talent.
+1 for perspective Bill and damn good point.
Thanks man! I thought it was an interesting observation and I in no way intended to “shit on” Najee. I wish him the best and hope to get him in Fantasy this season.
April 30th, 2021 at 12:19 AM ^
Congrats to Kwity getting picked in the 1st round.
April 30th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
Kwity and the coaching staff both gave best effort and it payed off with a first round selection. Well Deserved.
April 30th, 2021 at 12:31 AM ^
Finally, someone from Michigan went to Indy! Can't wait to see him back in blue!
"Captain Comeback", Jim Harbaugh says hello!
April 30th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
I'm not sure if the person is referring to a Michigan football player playing in the B1G Title Game or not, but Mike Hart was also drafted by the Colts!
Kwity Paye is jacked!
The thing that confuses me is the analysis that says he's "raw." Didn't we hear over and over how he was the ultimate technician?