Originally posted by Waterbear:
I feel responsible as I made the comment that he reminds me of Thomas. What I meant was that he's the best "edge" in a terrible class. If you draft him you would be purely for drafting his position and not for his ability compared to the rest of the potential selections at 12.
Another reason I think he's similar to Thomas is that his traits wouldn't all translate to the next level. I don't think he will have anything close to success like he did in that Minnesota game in the NFL. His hands are okay and he's not as explosive as I assumed he would be with the hype he's getting. Paye plays horizontally most of the time like Thomas, which is not what you want from a true pass rusher.
2 sacks in 2020 and people acting like he would produce like Ford when he was on the field. I just don't see it at all.
Thomas wasn't close to being the best edge, his athleticism at his size was a major + but he had never played on the edge before so it came down to a lot of projection where Paye has already played a ton out on the edge. I don't agree that his traits won't translate to the next level, he's already shown a very nice pass rushing repertoire, he clearly has the power and athleticism to go with the skills. His athleticism absolutely blows Thomas out of the water. He's also clearly put in a ton of work with the improvement he showed this past season.
As far as sacks, it'd be nice if he had more production there but his QB pressures numbers were pretty outstanding. That is one part of the Brandon Graham comparison. Paye didn't have a lot of sacks but he was getting into the backfield consistently against a wide variety of opponents. If he all he does is just rack up a ton of QB pressures at the NFL level, Kinlaw and Bosa would both feast.
