One of the more remarkable and underreported NFL stories is the incredible success former BYU star Kyle Van Noy has enjoyed with the Baltimore Ravens over the last two seasons.
Somehow at age 33 and in his 11th NFL season he’s playing some of the best football of his career. At a stage where most players are either retired or their production has significantly tapered off, KVN has unexpectedly emerged as one of the best pass rushers in the league.
In 27 games over the last two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Kyle Van Noy has racked up 18 sacks, 25 quarterback hits, and 32 pressures, per Football Reference.
And this glorious part of his career almost never happened.
Here’s the unlikely story of Kyle Van Noy’s journey from BYU stardom, to a cast-off young player, to a Super Bowl champion, to being unemployed, and now dominating for the Baltimore Ravens today.
Kyle Van Noy’s career in Baltimore hasn’t just been resuscitated--it has been resurrected from the dead.
Dominating at BYU
During his time in Provo, Kyle Van Noy put together what was arguably the best career ever for a BYU defensive player. Van Noy’s 2013 senior season began with preseason All-American honors and concluded as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award.
Many Cougar fans harken back to Van Noy’s incredible performance in the 2012 Poinsettia Bowl when he scored two fourth quarter touchdowns - one on a strip sack and another on a pick-six - as the apex of his versatile dominance, lifting BYU to a 23-6 victory.
In 2014 Van Noy entered the NFL draft and departed Provo for Detroit after the Lions selected him in the second round.
From Down in Detroit to Performing with the Patriots (2014-2019)
Despite his stellar career at BYU and his lofty draft status, Van Noy’s NFL career got off to a rocky start in Detroit.
The fit with the Lions scheme and coaching staff just never seemed to click. His 2014 rookie season was limited to eight games due to injury and he recorded just six tackles that year. In 2015 he appeared in 15 games with just 10 tackles and one sack. But by 2016 KVN locked down a starting role and through seven games (all starts) he had 23 tackles.
Then, inexplicably, the Lions traded the young, improving linebacker to Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots for the paltry sum of a 2017 pick swap of seventh- and sixth-round picks. Over the last several decades Detroit’s front office has made a multitude of terrible transactions, and this trade has to go down among the worst.
Over the next three-and-a-half seasons, Van Noy thrived in New England. In 51 games he registered 250 tackles, 16.5 sacks, and five forced fumbles. But he was even better in the playoffs during the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady heyday in New England, registering 5.5 sacks in 10 playoff games while helping lift the Patriots to two Super Bowl victories.
The Productive Journeyman (2020-2022)
After leaving New England after the 2019 season, Kyle Van Noy started the phase of this career as a productive one-year journeyman.
He spent 2020 with the Miami Dolphins and put up an impressive 69 tackles and six sacks, but it was his only season with the team.
In 2021 the Patriots came calling again and KVN spent another year with his former teams, contributing a productive 66 tackles, five sacks, and 10 passes defended. Despite helping the Pats make the playoffs, Van Noy was on the move again after the season ended.
His 2022 campaign was spent with the Los Angeles Chargers where he registered a solid 46 tackles and five sacks. For the second straight season the former BYU great helped lift his team to the postseason. But there was no long-term contract coming from the Chargers, so Van Noy would once again be looking for a new opportunity.
Unemployment (Weeks 1-3 of the 2023 Season)
Entering the 2023 free agency period KVN was coming off three highly-productive seasons in which he averaged nearly 16 games with over 60 tackles and five sacks per year. At 31 years old he was a veteran, but he was far from washed up.
Despite his solid play, the right contract didn’t materialize during the free agency period.
As the 2023 season kicked off, Kyle Van Noy found himself unemployed, watching games on his TV at home just like the rest of us.
As Week 2 games rolled around, KVN was still waiting for his phone to ring.
By the time Week 3 came and went, it wasn’t unreasonable to start wondering if Kyle Van Noy would play at all in 2023. And if he didn’t get another shot that year, then could his career suddenly be over?
And then the phone rang.
On September 26, 2023, the Baltimore Ravens came to terms with the productive, unemployed veteran. The 2-1 Ravens had suffered a rash of injuries to their outside linebackers and as a team with Super Bowl aspirations, they needed a capable, plug-and-play contributor. A few days later KVN made his Ravens debut, playing 23 defensive snaps with a quarterback hit and a pass defended in a Baltimore win.
And he’s only gotten better from there.
The Ravens Resurrection
Despite joining the Ravens defense from his couch heading into Week 4, Van Noy went on to become one of the most impactful players on Baltimore’s vaunted defense last year. His nine sacks ranked third on the team and his nine tackles for loss finished tied for third. His nine quarterback hits and 12 pressures ranked fourth.
The 2023 Baltimore Ravens went 13-4, won their division, and advanced to the AFC Championship game before falling to the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-10.
In 2023, Kyle Van Noy set a career high with nine sacks, a feat few players achieve at 32 years old and in their tenth NFL season. While Van Noy had always been good at getting to the quarterback - he had 31.5 sacks over the previous six seasons - he leveled up in Baltimore as a pass rusher. Before recording nine sacks last year his previous high was 6.5 sacks back in 2019.
After Van Noy’s stellar play in 2023, the Ravens understandably wanted him back. They rewarded him with a 2-year, $9 million contract that runs through the 2025 season.
And thus far in 2024, Kyle Van Noy is outperforming his cap hit.
He started this season off as perhaps the NFL’s most effective pass rusher. He had two sacks in each game from Weeks 2-4 and was recognized with the AFC’s Defensive Player of the Month award.
Through 13 games this year he has already tied his career high with nine more sacks and set new career highs with 11 tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hits. With three games remaining he may very well hit double-digit sacks for the first time in his outstanding NFL career. The argument could be made he's deserving of a Pro Bowl selection.
With 18 sacks in 27 games with the Baltimore Ravens over the last two season, Kyle Van Noy has established himself as one of the NFL’s best rushers, a remarkable feat for a 33-year-old veteran who had never exceeded 6.5 sacks in a season before joining the Ravens last year.
Kyle Van Noy’s winding career journey has gone from BYU star, to a young cast-off with the Detroit Lions, to a Super Bowl champion with the Patriots, to a veteran journeyman, to unemployed on his couch, to today as one of the NFL’s most disruptive pass rushers.
Kyle Van Noy’s career hasn’t just been resuscitated with the Baltimore Ravens.
It has been resurrected.