Kyle Van Noy is still chasing snaps at 35, and it turns out the fastest way back onto an NFL field ran through Brian Flores. After visiting the Vikings on Tuesday, the veteran linebacker is signing with Minnesota, according to multiple reports, landing on the practice squad to work his way back into game shape.
Veteran OLB Kyle Van Noy is signing with the Vikings, sources tell @ringer @netflixsports. Van Noy and DC Brian Flores won two Super Bowls together with the Patriots. Now they’re teaming up in Minnesota, where Van Noy will start on the practice squad to ramp up.
The visit itself wasn't a surprise once you know the history. Van Noy and Flores go back to New England, where Flores was Bill Belichick's defensive play-caller and Van Noy was a hybrid off-ball/edge piece who bought all the way in. Together they won Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LIII, and when Flores got his shot as Dolphins head coach in 2020, he brought Van Noy along for a reunion in Miami. Now it's a third act, this time with Flores running Minnesota's defense.
It's a landing spot Van Noy needed. He spent the last 3 seasons in Baltimore, where he had a career year in 2024 — 12.5 sacks and his first Pro Bowl nod at age 33 — before a rougher 2025 that ended with the Ravens moving on. Free agency dragged into September, with Van Noy publicly saying he wanted to keep playing and naming a few preferred spots, but nothing materialized until the Vikings came calling.
Veteran LB Kyle Van Noy joins the Vikings' practice squad, reuniting him with defensive coordinator Brian Flores. t.co/bpyWJVNFJA
Starting on the practice squad instead of the 53-man roster tells you where Van Noy is physically after months without a team — this is a ramp-up, not an immediate impact addition. But for a Vikings pass rush that's been searching for depth on the edge, having a two-time champion who already speaks Flores' defense fluently is a low-risk swing with real upside if he rounds into form.
For Flores, it's another chapter in a coordinator career built partly on recycling guys who trust his system — and for Van Noy, it's a chance to prove a 13th NFL season still has something left in it, on a defense run by the one coach who's already gotten the best out of him twice.