Big Ray confident Seahawks’ Grey Zabel can adjust to RG

After acquiring three-time All-Pro left guard Quenton Nelson in a blockbuster trade this past week, the Seattle Seahawks are moving Grey Zabel from left guard to right guard.

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Zabel, a 2025 first-round draft pick, has started all 27 career regular-season and postseason games at left guard for Seattle. But the 6-foot-6, 316-pound North Dakota State product showed impressive versatility while playing all five offensive line positions in college, including three starts at right guard during the pandemic-delayed 2021 spring season.

How will Zabel adjust to switching sides at the NFL level? Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Ray Roberts shared some perspective during an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

“It’ll be easier for him because he’s played (right guard) before,” Roberts said. “When I played in Detroit, we had this guy, Mike Compton, who was like a swing guard. So he was just used to playing left and right, left and right, left and right. … So because (Zabel) has had some experience there – in real games, and not just at an all-star game or something – I don’t think the switch will be hard for him.”

Roberts then detailed the biggest adjustment Zabel faces.

“Usually when you’re switching sides – from left tackle to right tackle or left guard to right guard – it’s the power angles that you have to re-adjust,” Roberts said. “So if you’re on the left side, he’s used to his right hand being strong. And when you go to the right side, it’s your left hand.”

“The last few games I played in NFL, I (moved from left tackle) to right tackle, and that kind of jacked me up a couple times. I was being a little too heavy on my outside hand when I needed to be heavy on my inside hand, and so I gave up an inside pressure from from time to time.

“That’s usually like the little brain flip you’ve got to make when you switch it from left to right.”

But ultimately, Roberts thinks Zabel will adapt. Roberts said moving from left guard to right guard is much more manageable than moving from guard to tackle, or vice versa.

“There just haven’t been a whole lot of examples of that in NFL of someone making big switches like that – guard to tackle, tackle to guard, guard to center – and having a whole lot of success.

“But the guard to guard thing shouldn’t be that big a problem.”

Listen to the full Bump and Stacy conversation with Ray Roberts at this link or in the audio player near the middle of this story. Tune into Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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