Michigan Football: Kwity Paye is coming back and it’s a big deal

Michigan football will be without a few key players who have opted out of the 2020 season, but defensive end Kwity Paye won’t be one of them.

After Nico Collins and Dylan McCafrey decided to opt out of the 2020 Michigan football season, all the attention turned to defensive end Kwity Paye.

Paye is a player with clear NFL aspirations and via a recent ranking by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., Paye is a top-20 prospect. And according to Sam Webb of the Michigan Insider ($), he’s also coming back for another season.

Here’s what Webb wrote on his morning dish: “The senior defensive end has reportedly informed the program of his intention to stay and play.”

This is huge for obvious reasons as Paye has been a top pass rusher for Michigan football in each of the past two seasons. In 2019, he had 50 tackles, 12.5 TFL and 6.5 sacks. He has 19.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in his career.

What does Paye return mean for Michigan football?

This 2020 season, which will be nine games for everyone in the Big Ten, will be crazy and it will be unlike anything we have seen before.

We all know that Jalen Mayfield, Ambry Thomas, Collins and now McCaffrey, as well as Christian Turner have opted out, but still, getting Paye back, along with Aidan Hutchinson is huge.

The Wolverines probably have the best defensive end combination in the Big Ten and one of the top duos in the country. Both Hutchinson and Paye have the potential to be early-round picks.

Losing Thomas in the secondary will hurt. He was Michigan’s top cover corner a year ago. However, with Vincent Gray, Jalen Perry, DJ Turner and youngsters such as Andre Seldon and Darion Green-Warren, I feel really good about the secondary.

With Paye back in the fold, it’s easy to feel really good about the defensive line too, especially the pass rush.

If he had jumped to the NFL, Michigan football would have been counting on some unproven guys to produce on the edge. Luiji Vilain is one candidate and now, he could be the No. 3 edge rusher, which seems like a better role for him in 2020.

The biggest losses are coming on offense with Collins and Mayfield, two guys with first-round ability heading out the door. But like at corner, Michigan is loaded with talent at receiver and along the offensive line.

And now that Paye is coming back, we can safely say the D-line is loaded too.