Dolphins continue star-studded recruitment; team adds free agent linebacker Kyle Van Noy

Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier is on a ROLL!

The cap-rich front office exec continued a day of wheeling and dealing by reuniting free agent linebacker Kyle Van Noy with former New England Patriots defensive play caller and current Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. Van Noy’s deal is a four-year, $51 million contract that includes $30 million guaranteed. The pact averages $12.75 million per year. The deal was reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Van Noy was one of the last prized defensive free agents left on the market and will join a Dolphins free agency haul already stacked with the likes of Byron Jones, Ereck Flowers, and Shaq Lawson.

Van Noy, who’s soon to be 29 years old, is a two-time Super Bowl champion who was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He joined the Patriots in 2016. Over the past two seasons, he started 31 games and racked up 10 sacks, 148 total tackles, 25 QB hits, 12 tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles. Van Noy was reportedly being pursued by a host of other teams including the New York Jets, but Grier and company swooped in to bring the stud linebacker to South Florida.

Grier had told reporters all offseason that the Dolphins would spend, but spend wisely. One can argue that the contracts he’s dolled out to his top two prized acquisitions in Jones and Van Noy are exorbitant, but let’s not forget that with the newly passed CBA now in place and new NFL TV deals on the way, the salary cap will continue to increase just as it did this offseason. These contracts may look like bargains if Van Noy and Jones continue to ascend as they have over the past couple of seasons, and Flores has already shown that he can get more out of his players than one might expect.

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