FOXBORO, Mass. -- Kyle Van Noy and Dont'a Hightower are longtime friends at this point. But when Van Noy first joined the New England Patriots midway through the 2016 season, Hightower didn't give him the warmest of welcomes.
The Patriots traded for Van Noy on Oct. 25, 2016, acquiring him from the Detroit Lions for a swap of late-round draft picks. Just six days later, they shipped linebacker Jamie Collins -- a popular locker room figure who'd been a second-team All-Pro one year earlier -- to the Cleveland Browns in a stunning deadline deal.
Van Noy was viewed as Collins' replacement, leading to an icy reception from his position group's veteran leader.
"One thing I'll tell about High is when I first got here, High, I don't think he liked me too much, just because unfortunately, we traded our guy Jamie," Van Noy recalled Thursday. "We're all brothers now, so I'm able to talk about it. He didn't like me for a little bit."
"At first, I had to ask him where to go on some plays, and I told myself, by the time I've been here for a month, I'm not going to ask him where I need to go on a play. Because he already has the green dot (as the defensive communicator), he gets tired, he don't want to talk to you. I was like, to make his job easier, I've got to learn the defense inside and out."
To achieve his goal, Van Noy hardly left Gillette Stadium for that entire month, pulling 16-hour days at the team facility. It worked. Within weeks, he was seeing significant playing time for a Patriots team that went on to win Super Bowl LI.
"I was here from 6 a.m. to 10 o'clock at night for a month straight," Van Noy said. "Didn't see my wife. I learned the defense in a month. At that point, I think they gave me the green dot a couple times. But I love High for that story because he pushed me. He knew so much that I wanted to be that person for him that he didn't ever have to worry about what I'm doing. But then it happened so fast to the point where we're on the same page toward the end of the year and Super Bowl."
Years later, the mental synergy between Van Noy and Hightower is continuing to pay off for the Patriots' top-ranked defense. Collins is back in the mix now, too, returning earlier this season for his third stint with New England.
"We're at the point where I just have to look at him and he knows what I'm thinking, I know what he's thinking," Van Noy said.
