Tyrice Knight has had a busy past couple of weeks, in a good way. The rookie out of UTEP, was coming into a linebacker room that already had its presumptive starters in free agent signees, Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson. But with Jerome Baker dealing with injury, Knight's been filling in for Baker and he's gotten reps with the No. 1 defense in practices and valuable playing time in both the Seahawks preseason game against the Titans and Chargers. Saturday against the Titans, Knight played 49 defensive snaps, tied for second most of the game and last week against the Chargers played 30 defensive snaps.

"I feel like these past couple of weeks have been a blessing honestly," Knight said on what he's gotten out of practices and preseason games. "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."

Before the Seahawks headed to Nashville, head coach Mike Macdonald said about Knight, "He's a rookie. He's doing the things, he's making the plays that he needs to make right now to compete, but he needs to keep chasing it. There needs to be a sense of urgency there on his mentality and he's doing that. I told him, it's going to take him three years. You haven't made it yet buddy, you've played one preseason game, you've got a ways to go. He'll get there. We're excited about him, but he's got some room to grow."

Doubling down on what he said earlier in the week and emphasizing how much more room he has to grow, after the game Macdonald said, "I told you, he makes tackles. You didn't want to believe me. 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."

Knight named a few things that he needs to work on, "I'd say just diagnosing the plays better. 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."

Explaining more, "I would say motions here and there, and just focusing on my keys and not trying to see everything going from left to right, but just keeping a little tunnel vision and focus on what's at hand."

Part of focusing on that is also making sure the defense is communicating across all levels. Knight added the communication helps with, "Just trying to get everyone on the same page and make your jobs way easier and know what everybody is doing around you."

Following the game, Knight was asked if he was going to be getting s trophy for how many snaps he's played this past week, responding with, "I'm not getting a trophy for that. I know they expect that from me," showing that his mindset is similar to Macdonald's.

Right now, Macdonald doesn't have a timetable on when Baker will return to practice, so for now, Knight will be getting more valuable reps with the No. 1 defense. "I can't give you a date on when [Jerome Bake's] coming back, but he should be going here pretty soon."