BREAKING: The Patriots Release Kyle Van Noy
Lynne Sladky. Shutterstock Images.And so it begins. Kyle Van Noy's release is the opening pitch of Losing Key Veterans season. And as happens pretty much every year around this time, way more of the personnel moves hurt than make you feel good.
I have to admit, I did not see this one coming. There are still other cornerstone type players on this defense who could be getting to the end of the line. It wouldn't shock me to hear, for instance, that Dont'a Hightower or Devin McCourty are moving on to free agency or retirement. They're making a lot of money and if we learned anything in December and January it's that they need to get younger on all three levels. So sacrifices should be suspected. But Van Noy didn't seem like a likely target of the proverbial Turk metaphorically coming to him with, "Coach wants to see you; bring your playbook."
And yet, here we are. A unit that got run into the frozen turf of Buffalo because they couldn't defend sideline-to-sideline just released one of the more athletic, versatile, dependable and smart Front-7 players of the second half of the Championship Era. Whatever Van Noy wasn't in Detroit, he immediately became in New England. A guy who needed about two weeks before he fit perfectly into the middle of Bill Belichick's scheme. A gear that meshed with all the other gears, cogs, chains and flywheels like he was custom made for it, making impact plays in the run game, rushing the passer and, to a lesser extent, staying with tight ends and backs with his short area quickness in coverage. The run to the Super Bowl title in 2016 was very much sparked by KVN bringing that understanding of the system to the team in midseason, as they played better down the stretch than before he showed up. And the three straight trips that followed his arrival are not all because of him, but they weren't a coincidence either. But he's a victim of the payroll department's need to cut costs.
The damned thing of it is, he was a contributor. He was seventh on the team in snaps. Eighth in tackles. Third in pressures. A distant second to Matthew Judon in sacks, QB hits and tackles for loss. A distant second in passes defensed to JC Jackson. Second in forced fumbles. And now all that production is gone.
Making it even stranger is that in a lot of these areas, his numbers more or less equal what Van Noy did in Miami the season before under Brian Flores. But the Dolphins also wanted to cut payroll, so he was one and done. I'm going to assume it was an accounting decision. Because I just can't see it being anything like not being a solid contributor and a great teammate that coaches liked. I simply cannot see it.
It's worth noting too that the Pats have selected three LB/DEs in the top 100 of the last two drafts: Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings in 2020, and Ronnie Perkins last year. Plus an injured Cameron McGrone with the 177th pick last spring. Uche has been a pass rush specialist. The other three have been redshirted to this point. It's possible the personnel staff feels like they're ready to take the next step and give them a fair approximation of Van Noy's contributions at a fraction of the cost. We'll find out starting in July.
All I know for now is this sucks. I've been a big KVN guy for years. And assuming McCourty stays, he's going to need a new comedy partner in those Dunkin's ads.
Farewell, sweet prince. And godspeed:
