FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick wasn’t in the mood to give a glowing review of New England Patriots trade acquisition Kyle Van Noy on Wednesday.
The Patriots on Tuesday sent a sixth-round pick to the Detroit Lions for Van Noy and a seventh-round pick and also traded AJ Derby to the Denver Broncos for a fifth-round pick.
“As always, trying to do what we think is best for the football team, see how it goes with the new people that we have,” Belichick said.
Belichick noted Van Noy played on the line and off the line during his three years at Detroit.
“He was on-the-line SAM in their 4-3 package, he was off the line, inside linebacker in their nickel package,” Belichick said. “He didn’t really play a lot his first two years. This year was when he had his most playing time, played in the kicking game.”
Lions general manager Bob Quinn was a long-time member of the Patriots’ scouting department until Detroit hired him away this offseason. Belichick was asked if having a previous relationship with Quinn helped facilitate the trade.
“It could. There’s a lot of teams that don’t — that seem kind of reluctant to trade this time of year especially,” Belichick said. “It’s one of those things that came up fairly quickly. It just worked out. It wasn’t somebody we talked about or anything like that previously. It kind of came up, so we were able to work it out. Bob’s great to work with. We made another trade with another team in our conference, so if it’s there to be made, it’s there to be made. If it’s not, it’s not.”
In dealing Derby, the Patriots traded away their only tight end depth. Belichick wouldn’t shed too much light on whether the Patriots plan to fill out that depth in the near future.
“It is what it is for today,” Belichick said. “We’ll see.”
It’s rare to see a trade between two conference rivals midway through the season, but Belichick said there was no hesitation to pulling off a trade with the Broncos.
“Try to make our team better,” Belichick said. “That’s what we’re trying to do. I can’t worry about what everyone else is doing or not doing. Trying to make our team better.”
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
