Getty Kyle Van Noy celebrates with a teammate.
The Detroit Lions have a hole to fill at linebacker this offseason, and it just so happens one of their former players is set to hit the market in Kyle Van Noy.
Van Noy left the Lions via trade in 2016, and has had a ton of success with the New England Patriots. He left Detroit in the rear view mirror, but it’s possible he could return now in free agency.
As Van Noy said when recently meeting with Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, he would consider coming back to the Lions, providing of course that the money was right. Interestingly, he think the Lions could be a team that is interested in him, but whether he agrees is all up to the money.
@PrideOfDetroit Crap, my bad. Fell Behind. He said “sure” when I asked if he’d be open to going back to Detroit, considering it’s a new staff. Wasn’t a long answer. He spoke about Patricia being one of three former NE coaches who will likely show interest.
@PrideOfDetroit “I have a good relationship with every single one of those coaches. They know what I bring to the table. I believe they’ll be at the table. It’s just a matter of when it comes time to hand out money, I guess we’ll see.”
The Lions targeting Van Noy would make plenty of sense given their needs on defense and the connection between the staff and the player, all previous thoughts about Detroit not considered.
Analyst Recommends Lions Explore Bringing Back Kyle Van Noy
With this news, could a return for the defender be in the cards? That’s just what Pro Football Focus thinks should happen this offseason. Recently, in a piece suggesting what players each team needs to sign in free agency, the Lions were told that they need to look into bringing back linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
Here’s a look at why writer Anthony Treash believes that to be the case:
“The Detroit Patriots have been evolving over the last couple years under Matt Patricia, and bringing in Kyle Van Noy, another Patriot, to aid their pass-rush woes makes sense. Detroit tied for 29th in team pass-rush grade this past season and could use an upgrade over Devon Kennard. Van Noy was actually a Lion himself at one point before he was traded to New England midseason in 2016. After playing mostly off-ball linebacker for most of his career, Van Noy transitioned to the edge and recorded a career-high 84.2 PFF grade in 2019, ranking 16th in the NFL. New England will have to spend most its free money on offensive weapons in order to woo Tom Brady back, so a reunion for Van Noy and Detroit with Patricia shouldn’t be a surprise.”
Van Noy fit right in with the New England Patriots after struggling to make his mark in Detroit, and rode the wave to a pair of Super Bowl rings. He was dealt in the fall of 2016 for a sixth round draft pick in one of the wiser trades the Patriots have ever made.
Kyle Van Noy Statistics
After being selected by the Lions in the second round of the draft, Van Noy struggled to find a role in Detroit. He was shipped to New England in 2016, and has managed to have a career resurgence since going there.
While playing for the Lions, Van Noy registered just 1 sack and 16 combined tackles. After heading to New England, those numbers have swelled in recent seasons. Van Noy has put up 16.5 sacks and 250 tackles along with 2 interceptions and 5 forced fumbles.
Arguably, the Patriots and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia knew just how to use Van Noy in their scheme. It would be interesting to see if there’s a fit in Detroit again given this scheme fit, and perhaps something the linebacker knows would be the case.
Lions Cap Space in 2020
Detroit will have a decent chunk of change to spend this offseason, having restructured Matthew Stafford’s deal to push their cap space to around $50 million dollars for the coming season. With this money, the Lions will have multiple different needs to address including the defensive line, secondary as well as potential upgrades on offense.
The Lions could always open up more space with a few savvy moves, and there could be other cap casualties that might impact the team’s final salary number more dramatically ahead of March.
For now, though, the Lions have a decent amount of money to spend to patch several of the holes they will be dealing with.
Will a reunion with Van Noy be on tap? The Lions have liked Patriots free agents before, so this could be another fantastic case to remember. If it’s on the table, Van Noy could also be interested.
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