Usage / Role
48%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2022-2025Kansas State
VJ Payne
S • 6'3" • 208 lbs • Gainesville, GA, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
VJ Payne shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 26.3 disruption score.
Impact Production
59
Solid production for a safety
lowelite
Reliability
60
Reliable weekly contributor
lowhigh
Star Power
70
High-upside career profile
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Kansas State
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Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Kansas State
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Arizona State
Player Story
VJ Payne built his college career from 2022 through 2025 as a safety from Gainesville, GA wearing No. 7, spending time with Kansas State. The clearest part of VJ Payne's career was his defensive production: 194...
Read the storyNFL Draft
- Draft Year
- 2026
- Selection
- Round 7 · Pick 12
- Overall
- No. 228
- NFL Team
- New York Jets
VJ Payne, S. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Kansas State. VJ Payne shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 26.3 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 194
- TFL
- 10.5
- Sacks
- 1
- Passes defended
- 9
Quick Answers
VJ Payne quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Kansas State · S
- Career Tackles
- 194
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 7 entries · 44 games
- Best season
- 2023 Postseason · Kansas State
- Top game
- Arizona State
- NFL Draft
- 2026 · Round 7 · Pick 12 · New York Jets
- Latest roster
- No. 7 · Senior
- 2025 Tackles rank
- 59 tackles · S 81st (top 15%) · Big 12 49th (top 7%) · National 432nd (top 7%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Postseason | Kansas State | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 0 | 32 |
| 2022 Regular Season | Kansas State | 6 | 13 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 32 |
| 2023 Postseason | Kansas State | 13 | 10 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 52.3 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Kansas State | 13 | 47 | 3 | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | 52.3 |
| 2024 Postseason | Kansas State | 13 | 3 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 46.9 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Kansas State | 13 | 61 | 3.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | 46.9 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Kansas State | 12 | 59 | 3 | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | 45.1 |
Related Context
Keep exploring VJ Payne
VJ Payne played S for Kansas State. Across 4 tracked seasons, VJ Payne recorded 194 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2024 with Kansas State.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2023 Postseason
Kansas State paired 7 primary output with 23.7 efficiency.
Supporting note
2025 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 26.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2025 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Utah
Loss with 1.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 91.7th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2025 Regular Season · Kansas State
Games
12
Havoc Plays / G
0.6
Efficiency
26.3
Usage
4.9
Consistency
31
Best Game by takeover score
Utah
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
Hover over a point
Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.
Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. North Dakota: 1. Iowa State: 0. Army: 0. Arizona: 0.5. UCF: 2. Baylor: 0. TCU: 0. Kansas: 1. Texas Tech: 0. Oklahoma State: 1. Utah: 1.5. Colorado: 0
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. North Dakota: 3 by 22.5. Iowa State: 5 by 20.8. Army: 7 by 29.2. Arizona: 11 by 50.8. UCF: 3 by 32.5. Baylor: 2 by 8.3. TCU: 6 by 25. Kansas: 2 by 18.3. Texas Tech: 4 by 16.7. Oklahoma State: 3 by 22.5. Utah: 10 by 56.7. Colorado: 3 by 12.5
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0.8 · Games = 6 · +0.5 vs Losses
Losses0.3 · Games = 6 · -0.5 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
12 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Utah
Best efficiency game
56.7 vs Utah
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 11/29 | vs Colorado | W 24-14 | 3 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/22 | @ Utah10+ tackles | L 47-51 | 10 | 6 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 11/15 | @ Oklahoma State | W 14-6 | 3 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/1 | vs Texas Tech | L 20-43 | 4 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/25 | @ Kansas | W 42-17 | 2 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 10/11 | vs TCU | W 41-28 | 6 | 5 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/4 | @ Baylor | L 34-35 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/27 | vs UCFSplash game | W 34-20 | 3 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 9/13 | @ Arizona10+ tackles | L 17-23 | 11 | 6 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/6 | vs Army | L 21-24 | 7 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 8/30 | vs North Dakota | W 38-35 | 3 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 8/23 | vs Iowa State | L 21-24 | 5 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
VJ Payne story
VJ Payne built his college career from 2022 through 2025 as a safety from Gainesville, GA wearing No. 7, spending time with Kansas State. The clearest part of VJ Payne's career was his defensive production: 194 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 4 interceptions across 44 career games in the available record. That gives VJ Payne's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Kansas State
2022-2025
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2022202220232023202420242025
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Postseason | Kansas State | 2 | 13.1 | 10.3 | — |
| 2022 Regular Season | Kansas State | 2 | 13.1 | 10.3 | 0 |
| 2023 Postseason | Kansas State | 7 | 23.7 | 5.9 | 5 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Kansas State | 7 | 23.7 | 5.9 | 0 |
| 2024 Postseason | Kansas State | 8.5 | 27.1 | 5.7 | 1.5 |
| 2024 Regular Season | Kansas State | 8.5 | 27.1 | 5.7 | 0 |
| 2025 Regular Season | Kansas State | 7 | 26.3 | 4.9 | -1.5 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Arizona State
Week 12 · L 14-24 · Conference game
Loss with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2.5
Havoc Plays
86.7 takeover
2.5 disruption/tackle impact with 86.7 takeover score.
#2
@ Iowa State
Week 14 · L 21-29 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
83.3 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 83.3 takeover score.
#3
vs Alabama
Week 1 · L 20-45 · Postseason
2
Havoc Plays
74.7 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 74.7 takeover score.
#4
@ Tulane
Week 2 · W 34-27
2
Havoc Plays
74.5 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 74.5 takeover score.
#5
@ Oklahoma State
Week 6 · L 21-29 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
73.6 takeover
Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 73.6 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2023 Postseason · Kansas State
7 primary output · 23.7 efficiency · 5.9 usage
52.3
#2
2023 Regular Season · Kansas State
52.3
7 primary · 23.7 efficiency · 5.9 usage
#3
2024 Postseason · Kansas State
46.9
8.5 primary · 27.1 efficiency · 5.7 usage
Milestones
10
Impact games
5
Splash games
5
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring VJ Payne
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