[JAFF]

Colts camp observations: Kwity Paye leads dominant day for Indy defense against Bears

Colts camp observations: Kwity Paye leads dominant day for Indy defense against Bears
Joel A. Erickson
Indianapolis Star

WESTFIELD — Kwity Paye made life miserable on the Chicago offensive line through two days of joint practices.

Nobody more miserable than Bears right tackle Darnell Wright. Paye used a power move against Wright in one-on-one pass rush drills Wednesday, then came back Thursday and realized he had set up Wright perfectly.

Paye knew Wright would be worried about getting bullied again.

“Today, I did a one-two step, went towards him, he stopped his feet, ducked his head and I just swiped around him,” Paye said. “It’s something I know I can do, I just have to work on it more.”


Paye kept coming Thursday.

The third-year defensive end picked up a “sack” of Justin Fields in an extended 11-on-11 period near the end of practice, flushed Fields from the pocket another time and was heavily involved in at least three run stuffs, leading an Indianapolis defense that dominated the line of scrimmage Thursday.

Chicago’s running game did produce one touchdown in a red zone period, a blast up the gut from fullback Khari Blasingame on a play when the Bears snapped the ball from the 1-yard line. For the most part, though, the Colts handled everything the Bears threw at them, including a play where Chicago direct-snapped it to running back D’Onta Foreman with Fields coming around on a jet-sweep action.

Chicago didn’t fare much better in the passing game. Fields completed only 3 of 9 passes in 11-on-11 drills, the biggest coming on a strike down the middle to D.J. Moore, although the play was whistled dead, potentially for a penalty.


Indianapolis linebacker E.J. Speed also picked off Fields, reaching up with one hand to snatch a ball that strong safety Nick Cross deflected.

Indianapolis even limited the speedy Fields on the handful of plays he got out of the pocket and scrambled. Kenny Moore II and Zaire Franklin combined to “sack” Fields on the third play of the red-zone period; on another play in the red zone, Tyquan Lewis gave chase and got Fields out of bounds before the quarterback reached the goal line.



Paye led the charge with defensive end DeForest Buckner still sidelined due to a foot injury.

The former first-round pick missed five games last season, but when he was in the lineup he had six sacks, 29 quarterback pressures and 10 tackles-for-loss. Heading into his third season, Paye believes he’s finally coming into his own as a pass rusher.

“I kind of just saw myself as a power rusher,” Paye said. “But I’m also fast off the ball, and I can set stuff up with my speed. That’s something I just had to learn.”

Paye unleashed his speed on the Bears on Thursday.

Indianapolis Colts defensive end Kwity Paye (51) adjusts his helmet Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, during training camp at Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield.
Good on good

Chicago’s only real success offensively Tuesday happened in 7-on-7 drills when the Indianapolis defensive line wasn’t around to harass Fields. Able to sit in the pocket — on a couple of plays, Fields held the ball longer than the norm — the Bears quarterback looked for D.J. Moore, who was often matched up against the Colts’ best cornerback, Kenny Moore.


The two players had been arguably the best one-on-one matchup for two days, each side winning its fair share, but D.J. Moore got the best of his counterpart on Fields’ best throw of the day in 7-on-7, convincing Kenny Moore that the Bear was headed to the back of the end zone when Chicago’s quarterback was laying the ball into the front corner for a touchdown.

Kenny Moore was also apparently flagged for a defensive hold while covering D.J. Moore over the middle, although the Colts cornerback did break up that throw.

Fields and backup P.J. Walker were highly successful in the 7-on-7 period, tossing a handful of touchdowns during the session.

Finishing strong

The second-team Colts defense struggled a bit in the red zone, giving up a touchdown run to Roschon Johnson and a touchdown pass from Walker to tight end Robert Tonyan.

But Indianapolis got its revenge on the former Colts backup in the final, and most important, period of the day, slamming the door on six plays by Chicago’s No. 2 offense.


Walker was 0 for 3 in those six plays, took a sack from Indianapolis defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and finished off the practice by firing too far over the middle and into the waiting arms of Colts safety Henry Black, who might have been able to turn the interception into a pick-six if the coaches hadn’t whistled the play dead.

Injury report

Shaquille Leonard did not practice on Thursday night, the first time the Indianapolis linebacker hasn’t been able to practice. Leonard’s injury is unknown at this point.

Buckner (foot), running back Zack Moss (arm), linebacker Segun Olubi (concussion), center Ryan Kelly (foot), guard Will Fries (calf), defensive end Genard Avery, wide receiver Malik Turner and wide receiver Vyncint Smith.

Tight end Ricky Seals-Jones delivered a big block on a Colts kickoff return, but he came up limping and wasn’t able to return to practice. Indianapolis was already thin at the tight end position; Mo Alie-Cox (ankle), Jelani Woods (hamstring) and Drew Ogletree (shoulder) have missed more than a week of practices. Wide receiver Michael Strachan was also held out of the practice after suffering an early injury.

Quick hitters

Rookie Adetomiwa Adebawore opened practice with a tackle-for-loss against Chicago’s No. 2 offense. … Nose tackle Grover Stewart ran over Chicago center Cody Whitehair in one-on-one drills. … Defensive tackles Eric Johnson and McTelvin Agim both displayed impressive rushes from the interior in the same one-on-one drill. … Rookie cornerback Jaylon Jones broke up a pass to D.J. Moore in the red zone during one-on-one coverage drills against the receivers. … Bears return man Joe Reed took the first kickoff of the special teams period at the goal line, cut to his left, found a hole and raced away with a touchdown.