“You don’t know everything. Put your head down and work hard and work smart.” It’s the blueprint for NFL survival, a playbook every rookie needs but few actually follow. Enter Kyle Van Noy—the two-time Super Bowl champion and veteran linebacker who’s mastered the art of longevity—who said the above in an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. If you’re a fresh draft pick walking into the league thinking you’ve got it all figured out, Van Noy has one message for you: You don’t.

Let’s set the scene: it’s draft night. A linebacker from Texas A&M, dripping in swagger and four-star hype, struts into the league thinking he’s the next Ray Lewis. Fast-forward six months—he’s on the bench, scrolling TikTok while veterans snicker at his ‘audacity.’ Cue the NFL’s harsh reality check. But if there’s one guy who could’ve handed that rookie a cheat code, it’s Van Noy, who just dropped truth bombs sharper than a Lamar Jackson juke.

Shut up, listen, & steal like an artist

Van Noy’s résumé? 541 tackles, 55 sacks, two rings, and a Defensive Player of the Month crown at 33. But when he sat down with Colin Cowherd to mentor draft newbies, he didn’t flex stats. Instead, he dished out reality. “Listen—you don’t know everything. And two—put your head down and work. And I mean work smart and hard,” Van Noy said. “Too many guys come in thinking they know it all. Some do. But the ones who last? They’re sponges.”

He was one of them once. A rookie in Detroit, watching veterans carve out their legacies, he saw what separated the greats. “Calvin Johnson did conditioning in the morning. My a– did conditioning in the morning,” he recalled. “It was him, Coach Caldwell, and myself. I just watched… I didn’t play as much as I wanted to, but I knew that once I did, with the preparation I had—learning from Calvin Johnson, learning from Rashean Mathis, the study he did, the Glover Quins, asking all the questions—I knew when I got my shot, I was going to be ready.”

That wasn’t luck. That was intentionality. Julian Edelman? He paid equipment guys to fire extra passes at him post-practice. “He would pay him every year to shoot extra jugs at him. And he would catch so many balls each and every day,” Van Noy said. Zay Flowers in Baltimore? Same grind. “That guy’s on the jugs machine more? Add that to your game.”

Van Noy laid it out plainly—talent alone won’t cut it. You have to obsess. Stats don’t lie. In 2024, Van Noy’s 41 (25 solo), tackles and 2 forced fumbles fueled a Ravens D that ranked 1st against the run. But numbers alone can’t capture his aura—the way he rallies locker rooms like Captain America assembling Avengers. “Talent starts you,” he’s said, “but cohesion crowns you.”

That’s the final lesson. In a league obsessed with highlight reels and social media clout, the players who last aren’t the flashiest—they’re the ones obsessed with the grind.

Van Noy on Harbaugh’s wizardry

Now, flip the script to Baltimore, where Van Noy’s second act has been cinematic. After a 12.5-sack 2024 season (4th in the league), he’s not just chasing QBs—he’s dissecting John Harbaugh’s wizardry. “It’s an ‘adapt-or-die’ mentality. If you stay the same for too long, you’re not going to improve, you’re not going to get better, you’re not going to keep this excellence.” And no one embodies that more than Harbaugh himself.

“He’s a relationship guy. He truly cares what you think and how you see things…literally goes up to anybody and will ask, and he takes tidbits from everybody and puts it into his program.” It’s not just leadership—it’s collaboration.

“He doesn’t just focus on, you know, ‘his way or the highway.’…adjusts. That’s why he’s lasted so long.” And discipline? That’s non-negotiable. “He’s in the weight room every single day at 5 a.m. That’s the standard. You think you’re gonna half-step?” It starts at the top. Owner Steve Bisciotti ensures everyone in the building—star players, practice squad guys, janitors—gets A1 treatment. Van Noy saw it firsthand.

“One of the best I’ve been around. Top-down, loves football, wants the team to win. But he pours money into the organization. He gives everybody, you know, that A1 treatment. It doesn’t matter who you are in the building. He does a phenomenal job.” And that culture? It extends beyond the locker room. “I don’t like asking for tickets. Not my thing. My mom raised me to never owe anybody anything,” he said. But when his daughter was in Baltimore, he made an exception, offering to pay for seats. “They said, ‘It’s fine,’ and sat her next to Joe Burrow’s parents. Thank God I’ve been nice to Joe.” Baltimore? Pure class.

Rewind to Van Noy’s roots: A BYU kid who wasn’t coddled at a “football factory.” Yet here he is—12 years deep, still sacking QBs like it’s 2019. His advice? BYU’s blueprint: underdog hustle. “Fred Warner? Puka Nacua? We’re bred to outwork the blue-chips.” So to every rookie about to step into the league, the message is clear: Your draft spot? Just a number. Your legacy? Built on how you listen, how you grind, and how well you learn from the OGs. Or as Van Noy puts it: “Head down, eyes open—and steal every trick in the book.”

In a league obsessed with flash, the Ravens are a throwback—a team where Ray Lewis’s pre-game dance lives in every tackle. Van Noy fits like a glove here, where the weight room hums at dawn and the Seven Nation Army chant shakes M&T Bank Stadium. It’s a city that treasures underdogs, worships defense, and knows poetry isn’t just in playbooks—it’s in the grind.

So when Van Noy talks, rookies better listen. Because in the NFL, the difference between ‘promise’ and ‘legend’ isn’t talent—it’s obsession. And this OG just handed out the blueprint.