Since Kyle Van Noy was traded to the New England Patriots midway through the 2016 campaign, he has made three straight Super Bowl appearances and has won a couple of championships, so it seems safe to say that the trade worked out for him.
But that doesn't mean he was all that happy about it when it first occurred.
Van Noy told Fox Sports 1's Kristin Leahy that he didn't really want to leave the Detroit Lions at the time and didn't think he would fit with the Patriots at first:
“I was pissed,” Van Noy said. “I was mad because I felt like finally I’d got a breakthrough. I’d been injured early in Detroit. I’m finally starting. I had my chance. I was doing good things. I wasn’t doing amazing, but I felt like I was progressing and then I got traded to a team that had, you know, at the time, (Rob) Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard, Jamie Collins, (Dont’a) Hightower, Shea McClellin. Where am I going to fit? I felt like I was going back to the bench and I worked so hard to get healthy and finally be a starter in the NFL. But things didn’t work out there (Detroit) and it ended up being a huge blessing. Thank the man upstairs for making that happen.”
Van Noy, who played his collegiate football at BYU, was originally selected by the Lions in the second round (40th pick overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. However, he logged just 13 tackles over his first two seasons, and in his third year, he had totaled just 23 stops before being dealt to the Patriots.
Since then, Van Noy has become a staple in New England's defense and is coming off of a 2018 campaign in which he played all 16 games and racked up 92 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, a couple of fumble recoveries and a defensive touchdown.
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