INDIANAPOLIS – Chris Ballard backed up his words with action.

The conviction: You can never have too many pass rushers.

The consequence: The Indianapolis Colts on Thursday picked up the fifth-year option on 2021 first-round draft pick Kwity Paye’s rookie contract. The option is worth a guarantee of approximately $13.4 million in 2025. Paye has a $2.52 million base salary this season.

“You talk about trust, right? There’s a man that you trust,’’ defensive coordinator Gus Bradley said prior to the announcement of the team’s decision on Paye. “On the edge, does things right, comes to work every day. You know what you’re going to get.’’

He added the team believes, “there is another level for him.’’

Ballard agreed.

“Kwity is a really good football player,’’ he said during last week’s NFL draft. “He’s a great teammate. I think you know our philosophy. We want to keep as many of our own guys as we can. We like Kwity a lot.’’

Enough to ensure Paye will be a part of Gus Bradley’s defense at least through 2025 and perhaps form a legitimate one-two outside rush tandem with Laiatu Latu.

Despite the presence of Paye, 2021 second-round pick Dayo Odeyingbo, Samson Ebukam and others, Ballard used the No. 15 overall pick in round 1 last Thursday on Latu, the highest-ranked defensive player on his draft board.

“He’s a natural rusher . . . his ability to rush the passer,’’ he replied when asked about opting for Latu. “Any time you can rush the passer – you got a guy that can rush the passer – you got a chance to be a difference maker.”

Paye’s career arc has been steadily rising: 4 sacks as a rookie, 6 in ’22 and 8.5 last season. In 2023, he also had a career-high 52 tackles to go along with nine quarterback hits and two fumble recoveries.

It should be a good pairing between Paye and Laiatu. They’ve been training together, along with Odeyingbo, under the direction of defensive-line guru Eddy McGilvra.

“I’m going to be looking up to Kwity Paye a lot,’’ Latu said. “(I’ve) learned a lot from him.

“I can’t wait to get in the building. I just look up to a lot of those dudes. I want to show them what I can do as well.’’

You can follow Mike Chappell on Twitter at @mchappell51.