Kyle Van Noy (born March 26, 1991) is an American professional football outside linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the BYU Cougars, where he graduated with a degree in history in 2013. He was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions and has played for five NFL teams over 12 seasons, including the New England Patriots, where he won Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LIII. Van Noy recorded a career-high 12.5 sacks with the Ravens in 2024 and was selected to his first Pro Bowl at age 33. He was named a finalist for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award in consecutive seasons (2024, 2025).
Early life Van Noy was born in Reno, Nevada in 1991. His birth mother placed him for adoption as a newborn through LDS Family Services; she was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but requested that he be raised in an LDS household. He was adopted at approximately three to four months of age by Layne and Kelly Van Noy, who were then living in Lodi, California. The Van Noys also had an older son, Travis.
The adoption was a closed arrangement, and Van Noy has not met his biological parents. He has said that his parents were straightforward about his adoption from an early age. In a 2017 interview with Patriots.com, he recalled: “It wasn’t that big of a deal. No one acted weird or different about it. You just kind of rolled with it.” His adoptive mother, Kelly Van Noy, told the Deseret News that the family chose to be open with Kyle about his origins from the start, saying, “We didn’t think there was a magical time that he was told. We’ve always explained who he was and that we love him.”
The family moved to Reno, Nevada when Van Noy was approximately 11 years old. His father, Layne, managed the city’s recreation programs and guided Kyle’s early athletic development. Van Noy attended McQueen High School in Reno where, as an all-state linebacker and receiver, he led his high school football team to a perfect 14–0 record and a 4A state championship in 2008, and was rated as a 2-star recruit by Rivals.com and Scout.com.
In addition to playing football, Van Noy lettered in basketball, baseball, and track where he was an all-league performer (4 × 100 m, 4 × 200 m and 4 × 400 m). He also ran the 100 meters in 11.84 seconds and the 400 meters in 50.99 seconds.
Van Noy was ranked the 63rd best high school athlete by ESPN. He received scholarship offers from Arizona, Arizona State University, Boise State University, BYU, California, University of Colorado, UCLA, UNLV, Nevada, San Jose State University, and Stanford.
College career Freshman season Van Noy was admitted to Brigham Young University. During the 2010 season, he played in every game while starting two and earned letterman honors. He recorded 35 tackles (24 solo) and was third on the team with 7.5 tackles-for-loss including 2.0 sacks. He also recorded two forced fumbles, two quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and one fumble recovery (which he returned 44 yards for a touchdown).
Sophomore season Van Noy played in all 13 games, starting in 8, of the 2011 season, recording 68 tackles and leading the team with 15 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, 10 quarterback hurries and tied for the team-lead with three interceptions. During the 2011 season, Van Noy was the only FBS Division I player to record a stat in each of the following categories: tackle, tackle for loss, sack, interception, pass breakup, quarterback hurry, fumble recovery, forced fumble, blocked kick and touchdown. As he did in the 2010 season, he again recovered a fumble (which he forced), which he returned for the game-winning touchdown.
He was named to the Phil Steele All-Independent First-team, Yahoo! Sports All-Independent Team and FBS All-Independent Team.
Junior season
In 2012, Van Noy was the defensive leader of a BYU team that led the nation in red zone defense (opponent red zone percentage of .62), was second in rushing defense (84.25 yards/game), third in 3rd down conversion percentage (27.71%), fourth in 1st down defense (14.83/game), and fifth in scoring defense (176 total points). Additionally, they were in the top 25 in passing defense (13th), sacks (22nd), 4th down conversion defense (23rd), and tackles for loss (25th).https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/1042/p1 December 2012
In 13 games played, he recorded 53 tackles, 22 tackles-for-loss, 13.0 sacks, 2 interceptions (one for a touchdown), 6 forced fumbles with 1 fumble recovered (for a touchdown), 8 quarterback hurries, 5 pass break-ups, and 2 blocked kicks. Van Noy dominated in BYU's 23–6 victory over San Diego State in the 2012 Poinsettia Bowl, where he recorded 8 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery (for a touchdown), 1 interception (for a touchdown), and a blocked punt.
Van Noy was named to the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Lombardi Award and Chuck Bednarik Award Watch Lists, was National Linebacker of Week 3, and was third team All-American.
Van Noy was projected as a first or second round pick in the 2013 NFL draft, but opted to remain at BYU for his senior season.
Senior season As a senior in 2013, Van Noy was named to the watch lists for the Butkus Award, Lombardi Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Walter Camp, Chuck Bednarik Award, and the Lott Trophy. He was a Phil Steele, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated Preseason All-American and finished the season All-America to Walter Camp Second-team, Athlon Sports Third-team, CBSSports.com Third-team and Sport and SI.com Honorable Mention. He was also named to the All-Independent first-team and was the All-Independent Defensive Player of the Year. In his final collegiate season, he recorded 70 total tackles, 17 tackles-for-loss, 4.0 sacks, two interceptions, six passes defended, and two fumble recoveries.
Professional career Pre-draft On December 16, 2013, it was announced that Van Noy had accepted his invitation to the Senior Bowl. On January 25, 2014, Van Noy played in the 2014 Senior Bowl and recorded two solo tackles and one sack as part of Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach Gus Bradley's South team that defeated the North 20–10. His Senior Bowl performance helped solidify his status as a top outside linebacker in the draft. He was also ranked as the top outside linebacker in the Senior Bowl by the Reese's Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage. Van Noy attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and completed all of the combine drills.
On March 14, Van Noy participated at BYU's pro day, but chose to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills. He attended pre-draft visits with multiple teams, including the Atlanta Falcons, the Baltimore Ravens, the Detroit Lions, and the Jaguars. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Van Noy was projected to be a second round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the fourth-best outside linebacker prospect in the draft by CBS Sports, and was ranked as the fifth-best outside linebacker by DraftScout.com and NFL analyst Mike Mayock. Van Noy was also ranked as the fifth-best linebacker by Sports Illustrated.
Detroit Lions 2014 The Lions selected Van Noy in the second round (40th overall) of the 2014 NFL draft. Detroit traded their second (No. 45: Paul Richardson), fourth (No. 111: the Cincinnati Bengals selected Russell Bodine), and seventh round (No. 227: Kiero Small) picks to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a fifth round pick (No. 146: the Dallas Cowboys selected Devin Street), as well as the pick that was used to draft Van Noy. He was the sixth linebacker selected in the draft. On June 4, 2014, the Lions signed Van Noy to a four-year, $5.10 million rookie contract, with $2.63 million guaranteed and a $2.03 million signing bonus.
Throughout training camp, Van Noy competed against Ashlee Palmer to be the starting strongside linebacker. On August 25, it was reported that the former had noticed an abdominal injury five days prior and would miss the next four-to-six weeks. On August 28, the Lions announced that Van Noy had successfully undergone muscle core surgery, but offered no timetable on his return.
In Week 10, Van Noy made his professional regular season debut and registered two solo tackles during a 20–16 victory against the Miami Dolphins. Van Noy completed his rookie season with six solo tackles while appearing in eight games with zero starts. The Lions finished second in the NFC North with an 11–5 record and earned a wild card playoff berth. On January 4, 2015, Van Noy appeared in his first career playoff game as the Lions lost 24–20 at the Dallas Cowboys during the NFC Wildcard Game.
2015 During training camp, Van Noy competed against Tahir Whitehead to be the starting strongside linebacker. To start the season, head coach Jim Caldwell named the former the backup strongside linebacker, behind Tahir Whitehead. Van Noy was inactive as a healthy scratch for the Lions' Week 5 loss to the Arizona Cardinals due to the return of DeAndre Levy. On October 25, 2015, Van Noy recorded two solo tackles and made his first career sack during the Lions' 28–19 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 7. He sacked Vikings' quarterback Teddy Bridgewater for a one-yard loss during the first quarter. In Week 12, he collected a season-high three solo tackles during a 45–14 win against the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished the 2015 NFL season with ten combined tackles (eight solo) and one sack in 16 games with one start.
2016 Throughout training camp, Van Noy competed against Jon Bostic and Josh Bynes for the job of starting linebacker. Caldwell named the former to be starting strongside linebacker to begin the regular season, alongside DeAndre Levy and middle linebacker Tahir Whitehead.
He made his first career start in the Lions' season-opener at the Indianapolis Colts and deflected one pass during their 39–35 victory. In Week 4, he collected a season-high seven solo tackles during a 17–14 loss at the Chicago Bears. Before being traded, Van Noy started the first seven games of the season for the Lions and registered 23 total tackles. He finished his stint as a Lion with a total of 39 tackles.
New England Patriots (first stint)
2016 On October 25, 2016, the Lions traded Van Noy and a seventh round pick (239th overall) in the 2017 NFL draft to the New England Patriots in exchange for a sixth round pick (215th overall) in 2017. Van Noy later said the trade was a turning point in his career. Keith Nellesen, a close friend, told the Deseret News that Van Noy “was a different person once he got to New England” and that he “thrives on acceptance and stability.” Van Noy was inactive for his first two games with the Patriots (Weeks 8 and 10), and served as the backup weakside linebacker behind Shea McClellin.
On November 20, Van Noy played in his first game as a Patriot and recorded three combined tackles and one sack during their 30–17 win at the San Francisco 49ers in Week 11. On December 4, he recorded five combined tackles, broke up a pass, and made his first career interception during a 26–10 win against the Los Angeles Rams. Van Noy intercepted a pass by Rams' rookie quarterback Jared Goff during the third quarter after the play was disrupted by Jabaal Sheard. He appeared in seven games for the Patriots that season and recorded 29 combined tackles (11 solo), two pass deflections, one sack, and one interception. As both a Lion and Patriot in total, Van Noy finished the season with 52 combined tackles (32 solo), three pass deflections, one sack, and one interception in 14 games with nine starts.