Last season, Derick Hall played in all 17 games and finished the season with 38 combined tackles and one pass defensed. Through three games this season, he is already making noise with three sacks, after not having a single one last season.

"Derick played a tremendous game really," head coach Mike Macdonald said on the linebacker. "I felt the whole front, how fast they were playing, but playing incredibly physical, incredibly hard, playing smart and how we're hitting the quarterback, I mean with no quarterback penalties, just but hitting him legal and he's playing. I mean this is the type of player that you envision. He's a physical guy that can set the edge and can drop when necessary. I mean he's playing at a high level right now, so we're excited about Derick."

Hall went into the offseason knowing that he wanted to improve and develop into a better pass rusher and he's shown that on Sunday, by coming up with two sacks. He also had a forced fumble, five combined tackles, and one tackle for loss.

"I think the big part of it is just knowing what I had to attack going into the offseason," Hall said on what's changed between this season and last season. "Really honing in on that, being able to develop my pass rush and take it to the next level. Having a year under my belt, knowing what to expect, knowing how things are going to flow, having guys that trust in me like Uchenna (Nwosu) and Boye (Mafe). Then, obviously, the scheme that coach Mike (Macdonald) has put in place for us on the defensive side of the ball, I think it allows the entire defense, but particularly the outside 'backers, to be really, really effective, game-in and game-out."

It's not unusual to see players take a leap during their second year, having had a whole season under their belt and time to adjust from playing college to the NFL. For Hall, the hardest thing to adjust to last season was the general understanding of the game as a whole.

"I think the biggest thing was, the speed of the game wasn't that big of a deal, but really understanding the game. Coming from college I thought I was a really smart guy, but you don't have all the shifts and motions and different things that you have now. Just learning personnel and different guys and different things that are put in place and being successful on those plays, and picking up on those, and going out there every single week and trying to hone in on that. Little tips and tendencies to go out and be successful. I feel like that's the biggest difference."

Another Seahawks player who saw a jump from their rookie to second season, was linebacker Boye Mafe, who Hall says he has learned from.

"Boye and I are really close," Hall said. "He was the one who helped me throughout the rookie growing pains last year. Giving me the way. Even the littlest things, when it came to getting the guys' food and how to prepare, how to take care of my body. Just being able to still lean on him a lot this year. He talks to me a lot. He's going to talk about different things, especially when it comes to the game and being able for me to see different things and being able to translate that to him and him (giving me input in return), I think that's the biggest thing, just being able to feed off each other. He's definitely helped me out a lot."