Patriots' Van Noy: Trade from Lions like going from toilet bowl to Super Bowl
Two-time Super Bowl champion linebacker Kyle Van Noy opened up on the "Pardon My Take" podcast this week about the 2016 trade that sent him from the Detroit Lions to the New England Patriots.
"I’m gonna repeat what my friend said so I don’t get in trouble," Van Noy said. "He’s like 'You went from the toilet bowl to the Super Bowl.'"
Van Noy was selected by the Lions with the 40th overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft. He recorded his first sack midway through his sophomore season and was traded roughly a year later in a deal that allowed the Lions to move up from the seventh to the sixth round of the draft.
"Then when I got there, it was like, they had a plan for me it seemed like. Then that plan got bigger with how I played. With that being said, I didn’t know that to begin with because I’d been in Detroit, where I was kind of told 'We don’t know where to put you.' And I’m like, 'Why did you draft me?' I had my own coach telling me 'I don’t know where to put you.'"
Turning 28 years old in March, Van Noy has started all but one of the 29 regular-season games he's played with the Patriots over the past two seasons. He's been instrumental in three consecutive trips to the Super Bowl, playing in all nine postseason games. He led the team with 92 tackles this past year while forcing a fumble, recovering two, and recording his second career interception.
Van Noy is set to play out the final season of a two-year, $10.75-million extension he signed in 2017. He'll carry a cap hit of $6.3 million in 2019.
With h/t to MassLive.com