RENTON, Wash. – Coming out of their bye week, after doing some soul searching during the time off following their fifth loss in six games, the Seattle Seahawks decided to make an unanticipated major change on defense by waiving starting linebacker Tyrel Dodson.
The stunning move was officially announced shortly before the start of practice on Monday, with coach Mike Macdonald later calling it a “tough” decision that he felt would be best for both the organization and the player with eight games left to play, opening the door for rookie Tyrice Knight to step into the lineup full-time for the rest of the season.
“I think it was an opportunity for us when we kind of sat and took a step back and realized where we were at, it was really the best thing for us to move forward that way,” Macdonald told reporters following the conclusion of Monday’s practice. “Give the other guys in the room an opportunity to step up. I hope those guys grab that opportunity by the horns and take it and run with it.”
Leading the team in tackles along with recording two sacks, five tackles for loss, and two pass breakups while starting all nine games leading into the bye, Dodson posted quality statistical production logging snaps at both middle and weakside linebacker. He willingly moved positions to accommodate for the arrival of Ernest Jones last month, indicating he would do whatever the coaching staff asked him to do to help the team.
However, Macdonald felt the Seahawks defense wasn’t getting it done up to his standards. Though Dodson was far from the only culprit for the team’s struggles defending the run, where they currently rank 20th in the NFL, after trading for Jones two weeks ago to bolster the middle while jettisoning Jerome Baker as part of the deal, he felt a change at the other linebacker spot was needed for the unit to “take the next step" progression-wise.
Getting the first crack to succeed Dodson, Seattle will be counting on Knight to build off of his steady play from earlier in the season when he stepped in for an injured Baker. Playing the majority of his 125 defensive snaps in a three-game stretch against New England, Miami, and Detroit, the fourth-round pick out of UTEP amassed 22 combined tackles, a tackle for loss, and two pressures while only missing one tackle.
As he did at the college level, Knight stacked tackles against the run in bunches, producing seven run stops per Pro Football Focus charting in those three games. His play in coverage was a bit more uneven, as he got fooled and caught out of position on a 35-yard tight end screen against the Patriots and allowed 10 receptions on 11 targets for 111 yards and 108.7 passer rating.
With Baker, Dodson, and Jones receiving the lion's share of playing time at linebacker, Knight has played just seven defensive snaps in the past five games, limited to only one series in a blowout win over the Falcons in Week 7. But Macdonald has continued to be impressed by what he has seen from the rookie on the practice field and hopes the extra seasoning in his scheme behind the scenes will pave the way for even better performance down the stretch.
"We expect him to keep improving as a player," Macdonald remarked. "He's going to get a lot more reps now to just try to take his game to the next level, do what he does, make tackles, play good solid football for us. And looking forward to seeing what he does with the opportunity."
From a long-term vantage point, with Knight and Drake Thomas being the only linebackers on Seattle's 53-man roster under contract next year, the rookie's development will be under the microscope in a two-month audition that will have a strong bearing on how the franchise moves forward at linebacker beyond 2024.
If Knight plays well and grows over the next eight weeks, assuming the 25-year old Jones receives an extension after general manager John Schneider shipped a fourth-round pick to the Titans to acquire him, the Seahawks could be set at both off-ball linebacker spots for the next three seasons with one of the players on an affordable rookie contract. Such stability and continuity with a younger core would make the swings and misses on Baker and Dodson in free agency far more forgivable.
But if Knight isn't able to grab the bull by the horns as Macdonald believes he can and fails to play better than Dodson did, the first-year coach risks potentially alienating veterans in the locker room in the aftermath of a move that seems calculated and pre-determined to an extent. Stating the obvious, Seattle could find itself back at the drawing board seeking a partner for Jones, who still has to receive a new contract for this plan to consist of only searching for one starting linebacker instead of two next spring.
Considering the on-field and locker room ramifications at play, there's plenty at stake for Knight, Macdonald, Schneider, and the Seahawks as they try to crawl out of a self-created hole in the NFC West cellar. The decision to plug Knight into the lineup at the expense of Dodson offers intrigue along with untapped upside, and yet, it's far from guaranteed to fix what ails the defense in the present and the jury remains out on his upside as a foundational starter prospect in the future.
