With OTAs underway for the Indianapolis Colts, defensive ends Kwity Paye and Laiatu Latu are now sharing the practice field as teammates. However, this isn’t the first time that the two have worked out together.
“We were training in the offseason,” said Paye during his offseason media availability, “and I would see him every now and then, and I’m like, man, this guy could really be my teammate.
“We spoke a little bit and, you know, just feeding off of each other during training sessions. Just seeing how he’s rushing and seeing his college film, and stuff like that, I was like, man, if that guy came to play with us it would be crazy. It’ll be good for us as well.”
Latu comes to the NFL after being one of the most disruptive pass rushers in college football for the last two seasons. During that span, he ranked top-five in pressures both seasons, recorded double-digit sacks each year as well, and ranked first among all pass rushers in PFF’s pass rush win rate metric.
GM Chris Ballard described Latu as a “polished” pass rusher, which should allow him to make a quick impact. Latu would describe Latu’s game as “slippery,” noting the variety of ways he can win as a pass-rusher.
“I would say he’s real slippery,” Paye said. “He gets on and off blocks real easy, can bend the corner, turn the edge, and just really manipulating the O-line. You know, just his counters and his spins, everything like that, just watching his film, it’s crazy.”
The combination of Paye and Latu at defensive end should complement each other quite well with each of their respective skill sets. As already mentioned, Latu has been excellent at getting after the quarterback, while Paye was one of the top run defenders at the defensive end position last season, ranking 11th in PFF’s run defense grade.
Paye was also efficient at turning his pressure opportunities into sacks, totaling 8.5, but replicating that production in 2024 will likely require more consistent pressure on the quarterback.
Overall, the Colts should have one of the more disruptive defensive fronts in football this season. Joining Paye and Latu at defensive end are Samson Ebukam, who led the team in sacks last season with 9.5, along with Dayo Odeyingbo, who had 8.0 sacks of his own.
Then, along the interior, the Colts have DeForest Buckner, Grover Stewart, and Raekwon Davis.
In the NFL, where if you can control the line of scrimmage, you can control the game, the Colts are set up very well to do just that.
“I think it’ll just be a big problem for other teams,” said Paye about the Colts’ defensive front. “You know, like you see teams that make it far in the playoffs, the Chiefs, the 49ers, the Eagles, teams like that where they just have a second D-line that could be a first D-line anywhere else. So that’s kind of like, I feel like that’s what we’re trying to build here. There’s no dropoff. As soon as the second D-line coming, the O-line doesn’t have rest, like the O-line doesn’t have the chance to regroup for the first team coming in.
“So for us, I mean, it’s going to be great. We can go out there giving everything we’ve got, knowing that, hey, I’m going to come off and we have another wave that’s coming in and doing just as well. It’s encouraging for us to really empty the tank every single time we’re out there and just compete.”
