Second-year linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr., the poet laureate of these Bengals, hopes to begin penning an epic when the season starts Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s FOX19) against the Buccaneers at Payor Stadium.

Knight, 26, father of three and a scion of Motown magic, sat down this week with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson to reveal an old soul that has been re-energized by the  blanket of offseason moves that have covered him in the middle of the Bengals defense.

The Conversation

GH: I've been doing this ever since OTAs I always ask you, where are you now compared to last year? The Bucs are a few days away. Where are you now compared to your rookie year?

DK: I'd say I'm in a much better head space, just being able to read the book the second time. There's a lot more peace in the locker room. It isn't a scramble type of feel. New coaches, new scheme. Everybody is trying to learn something new. Including myself, trying to forget my own playbook from college and coming in here and not trying to just master the basics, but obviously increasing the bare minimum in year two.

Being able to read the book a second time has opened so much of what we can manipulate. Show the quarterbacks and PSLs (pre-snap looks) and things like that. So every little thing helps, especially when you play against veterans and true assassins like Joe (Burrow). You can make him hold the ball even for half a second longer to help rush and coverage go together. It goes pretty well. So I'm feeling a lot more at peace.

GH: How are we going to know 44 is right where he wants to be this Sunday? Is it going to be a play? Is it going to be a call?

DK: No, I think people will know just based off the energy that I bring. The energy that I have brought.

GH: You always bring the energy.

DK: I'd say the energy is different this year. I wouldn't say I'm a leader, but you can tell those days when people are down, the energy's low. You can get people going in the locker room, then it translates to practice, and translates to the walkthroughs. That's where people will know he's at home. This is where he needs to be. They'll know it by the way I celebrate when my teammates make plays, celebrate the way my coaches make calls, and celebrate the way the offense goes out there and does what they're supposed to do. When I happen to make my plays, having the same people celebrate me. So I'm celebrating my guys first before I get mine. That's how people will know.

GH: Your defensive coordinator, Al Golden, has been pretty up front. He thinks it's going to help you getting guys like Boye Mafe, Cashius Howell, these linebackerish hybrid guys. You probably don't have to do what you did last year on the edge. How does that help you?

DK:  I believe it helps everybody, not just me. I believe it helps the room. I believe it helps the defense being able to bring in different packages and different things that we can do now to not give offenses the same type of personnel every week from 11, 12, and 13. If we want to put in different sub-packages or we want to put bigger people packages on the field, we've got not just one or two, we've got three, four different packages where guys are plug and play, so it's big for the entire defense.

GH: As opposed to last year …

DK:  Yeah, I mean, last year you're just trying to learn what your job is and do your specific one-eleventh. Now, in year two, people are familiar with the system, and people can just plug and play, and just like the guys you mentioned, but everybody can do it now so that's something we're extremely excited about.

GH: You've got the best view in the stadium of the new defensive line. A few observations, please.

DK: I think truly it's just the mentality. Last year I thought that we were good on the D-line. We just had to get people moving.

It's all about creating those mismatches with the people that we brought in. We clearly have mismatches that people have to game plan now, so you can't just game plan Jonathan Allen, or you'll forget about Dex (Lawrence II), and if you don't game plan Dex, you forget about J.A. You forget about those two, you forget about Mafe. You forget about Cashius. You forget about Myles (Murphy). You forget about [Bryan] Cook who can come on a safety blitz. You forget about Jordan Battle who the ball finds him all the time.

So it opens up a lot of things where teams can't just say, "Oh, they run this a lot this year.' It'll be pretty much up to Al for his flavor of the week and what he wants to throw in there. It's like a jumbo jambalaya. I'm sure as Joe and all the other LSU guys know, it's a lot of spices in there. So it's whichever spice that Al is going with.

GH: There he is, the poet laureate. I also call you the Music Man of the Bengals. Music is obviously  important to you because of your family history.

DK: Absolutely. It's on my father's side.

GH:  You are related to both, right? Cousins on your dad's side.

DK: Yeah, Gladys (Knight) and Aretha (Franklin).

GH: I mean, unbelievable performers.

DK: Yeah, that's unbelievable Motown for sure.

GH: Did that have an impact on you growing up for the music you listen to?

DK: I would say that music did. It's kind of why I'm an old soul, why I love old music.

GH: You're an old soul because of the music?

DK: Yeah, I would say so because not everybody has that taste. Like we've talked, it goes to Frank.

GH: You're a big Frank guy.

DK: Big, big Frank guy. Big Frank Sinatra guy for sure.

GH: Why?

DK: I don't know. I tell my wife my kids love it now. It's like a time machine for me. I'm a history buff. I love history. I love state history, and that type of music. It's a different era. It's a different feeling to it, and it kind of  takes you to a calming place when you can hear somebody sing like that.

Everything's fast in the world. Sometimes you've got to slow it down, and I believe Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole are just a couple of guys off the top of my head that has a place you can go.

GH: Your favorite song of Aretha and/or Gladys?

DK: Obviously, R-E-S-P-E-C-T for Aretha and Midnight Train To Georgia for Gladys.

GH: Did you ever meet them?

DK: If I did, I was probably very tiny when I met them. But I've been told, you know, the connection is there.

GH: Favorite time frame in history?

DK: It's probably got to be that Frank Sinatra-era. Great Gatsby type of era. I don't know what it is. That's why my wife and I, we love to eat at Ruby's. We love that atmosphere. It brings you back.

GH: Favorite figure in history?

DK: There's no question because of my faith. Jesus and the work with his disciples. Definitely him. One and only for sure.

GH: You and your wife have three kids now, right? The youngest was born here last year?

DK: Right. His name is Myles.

GH: Named after anybody?

DK: Kind of the superhero Spider-Man because he's an Afro-Latino. He's also Afro-Latino, and has an Afro himself, so it kind of fits.

GH: Where is your wife from, and how did you meet?

DK: Jensy is from Guatemala and we went on a mission trip in high school, probably my junior year. She went to the same high school. We kind of knew of each other. Didn't really say much on the trip, and then I went off to college, and I'd probably say that second year is when COVID started. So then I got sent home, and she got sent home.

When you've got too much time at home, you're just looking for stuff to do. I remembered her from that mission trip, and I sent her a message, and the rest is history.

GH: How old is the oldest?

DK: My daughter Mila is three. My middle son, oldest son, is Malachi, he's one, and then of course Myles is our youngest.

GH:  You're playing a lot of zone.

DK: They play fire zone pretty well.

GH: How do you think the family has impacted you as a player?

DK: That's the reason I do what I do. Other than my faith, my family is definitely why I do what I do. My wife being the quarterback herself, running the household, making audible checks. On game days, when it's time to get them going, she's pretty much the quarterback of the team because she can see stuff happen before it happens. She's like, oh, he's about to poop in a second. Ten seconds later, sure enough, he's got poops.

GH: We need her Sunday somewhere out there.

DK: She's the best in the game.

GH:  How different is this year going to be for you?

DK:  I would say it's going to be a big year. But I'm not looking to make it bigger than it is because then you can get too antsy, too paranoid. I'm going to take it one day at a time. I'm not going to stress about the next day or tomorrow. I'm just going to make sure that I do my best to win each and every day so that when we go there Sunday, it's nothing but energy and encouragement from 44.

GH: Sunday is your first call against Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield.

DK: Great, great player. That's a guy I'm going to ask to try to be a part of my jersey collection. He should. He just got paid, so he shouldn't have to worry about coughing up a jersey or something.

GH: What makes him good?

DK: That's a guy that's got tons of moxie. He can do it all. I'm not in any of their business, but I felt disrespected for him. This is a guy who went to bottom, ground zero, people think he's done, and you see what he's done over there, built up over there. So this is a guy that's well followed.

A man of faith as well. Baker is a guy that can do it all. Extremely accurate. He can make the plays. He can extend the plays. He can run, but also he can throw on the move anywhere on the field. He can make you pay, even if it's a small little zone read. You don't think he's going to pull it and let you know about it if you try to go low on him or go too high on him. He might run through you. He's going to let you know. You like that in your quarterback. A guy who's got a little fight and fire and a little feisty to him. I know he'll be roaring and ready to go come Sunday.

GH: Last week you punched up a little Frank and Nat King Cole on the locker room music box. Do you have to fight for that with Burrow? It's right there at his locker. How does he parcel that out?

DK: You have to slow it down sometimes. Both Barrett (Carter) and I, we always look near the music. If he's near it, we're not going to touch the music dial. If he's away from it, then we'll put something on. But if he's ever over there and there's music playing, we just leave it alone.

GH: Has he ever complimented you on your choice of songs?

DK: He has not. We say that to him. 'Hey, nice song Joe.' We try to stay in his good graces.

GH: He's more latter-day, right?

DK:  He's got a good mix in there. He's got a good mix.

GH: Has he ever fired out any R&B?

DK: I think he has maybe once or twice or so.

GH: He dropped a Bob Marley in there early in camp.

DK: Yeah, yeah, definitely Bob Marley.

GH: Is this season a season of R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the Bengals defense?

DK: I would say it would be that for the entire team as a whole. I believe that's what this offseason was, and I believe that's what OTAs was, and now it's time to just put it on display.