If you didn’t know better and had been following the Baltimore Ravens’ preseason closely, you would have thought that inside linebacker Trenton Simpson was an undrafted rookie trying to make the team.

Simpson was still on the field in the fourth quarter of the Ravens’ final preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, which Baltimore lost 30-7. It’s true that the Ravens were running out of inside linebackers at that point in the game and needed a healthy player, but that doesn’t change the fact that Baltimore’s defensive staff was determined to get Simpson playing as much as possible this summer.

The second-year player will start Thursday night’s season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs at weak-side linebacker, the position held by Patrick Queen, a 2023 Pro Bowl selection and one of the key performers on last year’s defense. There was little doubt Simpson would succeed Queen, who signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens did not take anyone to compete for the starting spot with the 2023 third-round pick from Clemson.

However, they wanted to make sure Simpson was as prepared as possible for the opener. He played 143 defensive snaps and 23 special teams snaps in the preseason. And the truth is, he wanted it that way.

The latest episode of the Ravens-produced behind-the-scenes show WIRED included footage of Simpson’s production meeting with the team’s preseason broadcast team. In it, Simpson said, “I need the reps. The more you see and the more you practice, the better you get every day. … With every rep I get, especially as a young NFL linebacker, I get more comfortable and things start to slow down.”