Colts have big decision to make on defensive end Kwity Paye's fifth-year option

INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts used their first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to take a defensive end last week; this week, the team has a big decision to make on the last defensive end they drafted in the first round.

Indianapolis has until Thursday to decide whether to exercise the fifth-year option in Kwity Paye’s rookie contract.

Paye’s salary would increase to a fully guaranteed $13.4 million in 2024 if the Colts exercise the fifth-year option. If Indianapolis declines the option, Paye would be a free agent next season.

“We’ll work through that next week,” Colts general manager Chris Ballard said Thursday. “But Kwity is a really good football player. He had, what, 8.5 sacks last year, plays the crap out of the run, he’s a great teammate.”

Indianapolis has enough cap space available in 2025 to make a move; the Colts are currently expected to have close to $50 million available in 2025, and that is long before the official cap number, a number that has beaten expectations the last couple of years, is released.

The price of Paye’s fifth-year option is not prohibitive. If the Colts decide to pick up the option, Paye would be tied with his fellow 2021 draftmates for No. 21 in average annual salary, and he has more career sacks than Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau, whose option was picked up on Monday.

Ultimately, though, the decision on Paye’s fifth-year option will be a football calculation.

Drafted with the No. 21 pick in the 2021 draft, Paye has played in 43 of a possible 51 games as a Colt, starting every one of those games as an all-around defensive end. Paye hit career-highs with 16 games and 52 tackles in 2023, and his sack totals have risen every year, from four as a rookie to six in 2022 to 8.5 a year ago, his contributions playing a significant role in the Colts piling up an Indianapolis-era record of 51 sacks overall.

But Paye is more of a second-effort rusher than a dominant force off the edge, and even though defensive coordinator Gus Bradley is fond of saying that all sacks count the same, the reality is Paye hasn’t developed into the elite pass rusher Indianapolis hoped he’d become.

Paye produced 38 pressures as a rookie — second-most on the team behind DeForest Buckner — but he hasn’t improved on that number, recording 29 in 2022 and just 31 in 2023, placing him fifth on the team behind Buckner, Samson Ebukam, Tyquan Lewis and Dayo Odeyingbo.

Indianapolis had hoped Paye would be able to tap into his elite speed and change-of-direction skills in an attacking system in the NFL; he has often been more of a power rusher.

Then the Colts acknowledged that the franchise was still looking for an elite edge presence by drafting Latu with the 15th pick of the first round last week.

Indianapolis believed a speed rusher off the edge was the finishing piece.

“We think so,” Ballard said.

The presence of Latu somewhat complicates the decision the Colts have to make on Paye’s fifth-year option now.

The two first-round picks can play together.

Paye has mostly played the Big End position in Gus Bradley’s defense the past two years; Latu profiles as a LEO, the spot Bradley reserves for the undersized, speedy rusher — Yannick Ngakoue played the spot in 2022, Ebukam in 2023.

Latu and Paye have trained together with private defensive line coach Eddy McGilvra during the offseason for years.

They are looking forward to playing together.

“Being able to know that he’s over there, and I know him, just the comfortability, it’s a big piece for me,” Latu said. “Being able to pick up little tips and tendencies from him, how the program works and how everything goes, I think that’s a real big upside for me.”

The problem is not fitting Latu and Paye together.

If there is a problem for the Colts, it lies in the sheer numbers they have at the position going forward.

Indianapolis has now invested something of significance in five defensive ends — Latu, Paye, Ebukam, Odeyingbo and Lewis — and even though both Odeyingbo and Lewis often rush from the interior on passing downs, there are only so many snaps to go around.

On the other hand, Ballard believes he finally has the defensive line depth he’s always coveted.

“Our stable up front, it’s really good,” Ballard said.

The Colts general manager has never been shy about investing in the defensive line.

Or his own draft picks.

“I think you know our philosophy,” Ballard said. “We want to keep as many of our own guys as we can. We like Kwity a lot.”

The Colts have an easy way to ensure Paye stays in Indianapolis at least one more year.

They have three more days to decide if they want to use it.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts have big decision to make on Kwity Paye's fifth-year option