Seahawks want Tyrice Knight to “grow up quickly” in Mike Macdonald’s defense
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Although he is expected to enter the NFL as a promising prospect out of UTEP, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight’s pre-draft process this spring left many of the evaluators’ questions unanswered despite good test results in Indianapolis and a good performance at the Senior Bowl.
But while Knight’s pro readiness was still uncertain for many scouts, no one could doubt his ability to bring down ball carriers. In four seasons with the Miners, he totaled 391 tackles, including a 140-stop haul as a senior in 2021 that ranked first among linebackers at the FBS level, an impressive stat line that landed him in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft by Seattle.
After watching Knight lead the Seahawks with eight tackles in a 16-15 preseason loss to the Titans on Saturday night, coach Mike Macdonald joked to reporters that he spent weeks trying to convince them that Knight could tackle. But as he has done several times over the past month and since, changing his tone to more serious on the fly, he also acknowledged that the rookie still has a long way to go to develop into a more accomplished all-around player.
“I told you he was making tackles. You wouldn’t believe me,” Macdonald smiled. “But I’m very happy with the tackles. It’s time to go to the next level in terms of communication, blitzing, coverage, play recognition. It’s almost like saying, ‘Hey, man, you’re not a rookie anymore.’ You have to grow up fast. You have to be ready to go when you need to. So, ‘Hey, let’s go, man.’ Let’s not settle for making tackles in the preseason.”
If Macdonald seems to want to speed up Knight’s development, his comments Saturday night suggest that the Seahawks expect the first-year linebacker to have to play defense at some point this season and needs to improve to ensure he’s ready when that opportunity presents itself. With Jerome Baker still nursing a hamstring injury that has kept him out of action for more than two weeks now, that call could come as early as Week 1 against the Broncos.
When it comes to catching running backs and receivers, Knight has been as good as promised in Seattle’s first two exhibition games. According to Pro Football Focus’ stats, he has yet to miss a tackle attempt while totaling 10 tackles and six stops in 79 defensive snaps. In Saturday’s game, he recognized a screen play and sunk it with KJ Wright-like precision, resulting in a tackle for a loss of yardage.
Knight feels he has made significant progress over the past few weeks and has especially benefited from the opportunity to work with Tyrel Dodson on the starting defense against the Titans during joint practices in Nashville this week. He is grateful for the extra playing time as he continues to learn Macdonald’s defense and play against NFL competition.
“I honestly feel like the last few weeks have been a blessing,” Knight said after Saturday’s game. “Everyone knew I needed the extra reps, and everything was planned out for me to get better and learn things better.”
Of course, as Macdonald again hinted, Knight is aware that there is still work to be done before he can go beyond simply hoarding masses of tackles before he can contribute on Sunday.
At the college level, Knight excelled as a blitzer, recording 4.5 sacks and 14 pressures on just 40 pass rushing snaps last season. As a middle and weakside linebacker for the Miners, he finished his time in El Paso with 45 pressures on 206 blitzes and a strong 21.8 percent pressure rate with 10 quarterback hits and 9.5 sacks.
Knight showed off his athletic ability, albeit with a few isolated assignment errors. He also had decent coverage numbers at UTEP, picking off eight passes and two interceptions, and allowed four touchdowns in 113 career rushes.
But in his first two preseason games with the Seahawks, Knight didn’t get a chance to really shine by adding extra pressure from the weakside linebacker position, and he failed to generate pressure on three blitz attempts. He also wasn’t consistent enough to complete his drop duties in coverage in a timely manner, which opposing quarterbacks fortunately largely failed to exploit, as he’s allowed four catches for 25 yards on four attempts so far.
When asked about Macdonald’s comments on his next move, Knight said he just needs to continue to get better at recognizing concepts and playing with better “tunnel vision” so the game slows down a bit for him instead of overanalyzing all the motion and other eye-catchers NFL offenses present to defenders.
“I would say I just need to diagnose the plays better,” Knight replied. “I need to broaden my vision and stop trying to see too much and focus on the key points that are in front of me. So I think I just need to read all the plays better.”
Looking at how things stand for the Seahawks at the linebacker position, less than two weeks before the final cut-down day, Knight appears to be stuck as the first backup behind Dodson and Baker, who Macdonald hopes will be back in time for the season opener. While his play has been inconsistent, as expected for a rookie playing in his first NFL game, he has shown enough to overtake Jon Rhattigan and Patrick O’Connell in the rankings.
Known primarily for his coaching skills when working with linebackers, Macdonald seems to view Knight as a fun challenge to see how quickly the team can get him up to speed to become a starter. Given the lack of depth and experience behind Dodson and Baker — Rhattigan and O’Connell combined to play fewer than 20 defensive snaps in the regular season — the rookie’s every snap has been scrutinized, and that will continue to be the case when Seattle wraps up the exhibition game at home against Cleveland next Saturday.
Assuming Baker does indeed return to practice soon, there is currently no rush to have Knight ready for the Seahawks beyond special teams. And yet, given the urgency in Macdonald’s comments, the organization is hoping the light switch will flip and he develops into a long-term starter who can do much more than rack up tackles in preseason games.
