Seahawks Looking For Tyrice Knight to 'Grow Up Fast' in Mike Macdonald's Defense

Leading the Seahawks in tackles in their preseason loss to the Titans, Mike Macdonald wants to see more from Tyrice Knight as he grows in a new defense.

Tyrice Knight works on shedding blocks during a drill at Seattle Seahawks training camp. / Corbin Smith/Seahawks On SI

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Set to enter the NFL as a fast-rising prospect out of UTEP, despite testing well in Indianapolis and performing well at the Senior Bowl, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrice Knight had plenty of questions from evaluators left unanswered this spring in the pre-draft process.

But while Knight's pro readiness remained up in the air for many scouts, nobody could doubt his ability to bring down ball carriers. In four seasons with the Miners, he totaled a whopping 391 combined tackles, including finishing first among linebackers at the FBS level with 140 combined stops as a senior in 2021, posting a gaudy stat line that led to his selection 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 with reporters that he had been trying for weeks to convince them Knight could tackle. But as he has done on several occasions over the past month and change, switching his tone to more serious in the blink of an eye, he also acknowledged the rookie still has a long ways to go growing into a more polished all-around player.

"I told you, he makes tackles. You didn’t want to believe me," Macdonald smiled. "But, very pleased with the tackles. Time to step it to the next level communication wise, blitz, coverage, play recognition. It's almost like, ‘Hey, man, you’re not a rookie anymore.’ You’ve got to grow up fast. You’ve got to be ready to go if your numbers called. So, ‘Hey, let's go man.’ Let's not be settled with making tackles during preseason."

If Macdonald sounds eager to fast track Knight's development, his comments on Saturday night suggest the Seahawks expect the first-year linebacker will have to play on defense at some point this season and needs to step up to ensure he's ready when that opportunity knocks. In fact, with Jerome Baker still nursing a hamstring injury that has now kept him out for more than two weeks, that call could be coming as soon as Week 1 against the Broncos.

When it comes to corralling running backs and receivers, Knight has been as good as advertised through Seattle's first two exhibition auditions. Per Pro Football Focus charting, he has yet to miss a tackle attempt while totaling 10 tackles and six stops while playing 79 defensive snaps, including diagnosing a screen play and blowing it up with K.J. Wright-like precision in Saturday's game for a tackle for loss.

Feeling he has made significant strides over the past few weeks, especially benefiting from the chance to work alongside Tyrel Dodson with the starting defense against the Titans at joint practices this week in Nashville, Knight has been grateful for the extra playing time as he continues to navigate learning Macdonald's defense and playing against NFL competition.

"I feel like these past couple of weeks have been a blessing honestly," Knight said after Saturday's game. "Everybody knew I needed the extra reps and just everything's been planned out for me to try to get better and learn things a better way."

Of course, as Macdonald hinted once again, Knight understands there's work left to be done away from simply stockpiling tackles in bulk before he's ready to contribute on Sundays.

At the college level, Knight excelled as a blitzer, including amassing 4.5 sacks and 14 pressures on only 40 pass rushing snaps last season. Seeing action as a middle and weakside linebacker for the Miners, he wrapped up his time in El Paso with 45 pressures on 206 blitz attempts, generating a strong 21.8 percent pressure rate with 10 quarterback hits and 9.5 sacks.

Showing off his athletic ability, albeit with some assignment busts sprinkled in on his tape, Knight also had decent coverage numbers at UTEP, generating eight pass breakups and two interceptions while allowing four touchdowns on 113 career targets against him.

But in his first two preseason outings with the Seahawks, Knight hasn't had a chance to truly shine bringing extra pressure from the weakside linebacker spot, failing to generate a pressure on three blitz attempts. He also has been inconsistent getting into his drop assignments in coverage in a timely manner, something opposing quarterbacks fortunately haven't been able to take advantage of for the most part, giving up four catches for 25 yards on four targets so far.

When asked about Macdonald's comments on him taking the next step, Knight said he simply has to continue improving at identifying concepts and playing with better "tunnel" vision to help the game slow down a bit for him rather than overanalyzing all of the motion and other eye candy NFL offenses throw at defenders.

"I'd say just diagnosing the plays better," Knight responded. "Expanding my vision and stop trying to see too much and focus on my keys ahead. So I just think, honestly just reading all the plays better."

Looking at where things stand for the Seahawks at linebacker with less than two weeks before the final cut down day, Knight looks to be entrenched as the first reserve off the bench behind Dodson and Baker, who Macdonald remains hopeful will be back in time for the season opener. While his play has been uneven, as to be expected for a rookie playing in his first NFL action, he's flashed enough to push ahead of Jon Rhattigan and Patrick O'Connell on the depth chart.

Best known for his coaching chops working with linebackers, Macdonald appears 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 have combined to play fewer than 20 regular season defensive snaps - every snap the rookie plays has been under the microscope and that will continue to be the case when Seattle wraps up exhibition play at home against Cleveland next Saturday.

For now, assuming Baker indeed comes back to practice soon, there isn't necessarily a rush to have Knight ready to play for the Seahawks beyond special teams. And yet, at the same time, based on the urgency in Macdonald's remarks, the organization hopes to see the light switch come on with hopes of him blossoming into a long-term starter capable of doing much more than racking up tackles in preseason games.