Kyle Van Noy's Los Angeles visit has produced an agreement that will bring the veteran linebacker to a fourth team. The Chargers signed Van Noy on Thursday.
Productive as a pass rusher despite not working exclusively in that role, Van Noy will join a Chargers team that has made a host of offseason additions on defense. The Bolts’ big-ticket moves came at edge rusher, cornerback and on their defensive line, however. Van Noy will attempt to bolster their linebacking corps.
Although the Patriots became the second team in two years to cut Van Noy, he has registered 11 sacks over the past two seasons. Van Noy, 31, also has forced eight fumbles over the past three. He became a key part of three Patriots Super Bowl defenses and parlayed that production into a four-year, $51M deal with the Dolphins.
This Bolts pact will not approach that value and will likely come in below the two-year, $13.2M deal he inked with the Pats last year, but it represents another opportunity for the veteran defender on a team that has added the likes of Khalil Mack, J.C. Jackson, Sebastian Joseph-Day and Bryce Callahan to its defense over the past several weeks.
New England elevated Van Noy’s value considerably, acquiring him via trade from Detroit in 2016. Bill Belichick found a spot for a player who became one of the league’s more versatile linebackers. Van Noy has 26.5 sacks over the past five seasons. For linebackers not strictly used as edge defenders, that total trails only Haason Reddick, who morphed into a pure edge during that span. Van Noy will have an opportunity add to that total alongside Mack and Joey Bosa, while mixing in with linebackers Kenneth Murray and Drue Tranquill. The Bolts lost Kyzir White to the Eagles in March.
More must-reads: