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While it was Jalen Mayfield who had the way-too-early 2021 NFL Draft buzz, it might be another Michigan football player who is likely to go in the the first-round next year.
With a decision to make whether or not he plays whenever a winter or spring Big Ten season comes to fruition, big things are to be expected of Wolverines defensive end Kwity Paye. The senior made The Athletic’s biggest college football freaks list in the top overall spot, and while the former three-star hasn’t been a national household name, he certainly has been in Ann Arbor.
With a rising grade year-over-year by Pro Football Focus — having ranged from a 66.9 in his freshman year to an 80.9 in his junior season — Paye has consistently gotten better. And in PFF’s 2021 mock draft, it sees the Rhode Island native as being a potential mid-first-round pick.
14. ATLANTA FALCONS — EDGE KWITY PAYE, MICHIGAN
Paye was as hurt as any edge defender in the 2021 class by not being able to prove himself more this fall. Still, if he runs anywhere close to his reported 6.37-second three-cone at 272 pounds, someone is going to take a chance on him early. However, he still needs to add a good deal to his pass-rushing toolbox — he generated 37 pressures on 316 pass-rushing snaps for a middling 77.8 pass-rushing grade throughout his lone year as a starter in 2019.
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As of this moment, Paye is publicly undecided about his Michigan football future, given that the 2020 Big Ten season has been postponed to 2021. It’s not known whether or not he’s that high up on NFL teams’ draft boards at this juncture. But if he does manage to squeeze a season in and show out at the NFL Scouting Combine next year, he certainly could be on his way to being yet another first-round draft pick out of Ann Arbor.