Stacy Rost: What does top pick Grey Zabel bring to Seahawks?

Apr 25, 2025, 9:08 AM | Updated: 9:29 am

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The Seattle Seahawks won 10 games last season and were the only double-digit win team to not make the playoffs. But they didn’t feel quite like a contender, did they?

Maybe it’s because they lost to a bad New York Giants team. Maybe it’s because they didn’t blow teams out in their wins. Or maybe it’s because missing the playoffs by a tiebreaker never feels like a moral victory.

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But if this team was better in the run game, had evolved its play-calling, or had some kind of identity on offense, you can bet they’d feel closer to being the real deal. And barring the addition of a franchise-altering quarterback, bolstering the offensive line was always going to be the Seahawks’ most significant step when it came to closing the gap.

Enter: North Dakota State guard Grey Zabel.

Grey all day. pic.twitter.com/k7bEtBy1iq

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) April 25, 2025

The 6-foot-6, 316-pound South Dakota native has experience at four of the five positions on the line (with some emergency snaps at center), and started all 16 games at left tackle last year. He’s got a tough-nosed personality any offensive lineman would appreciate. Jeff Kolpack, who covered Zabel’s college career, wrote that the small-town, three-sport Zabel turned down an offer over six figures to stay closer to family. That included offers from Power Five schools.

You can understand why it would be a core value to remain in that community; Zabel grew up on a farm and still holds a passion for farming.

From farm fields to football fields, Grey Zabel's journey is just getting started 💪 pic.twitter.com/FUyA3KjCmi

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) April 24, 2025

“There were some offers that kind of made me scratch my head,” Zabel joked with Seattle reporters during a conference call Thursday after being selected. “My head coach always calls me stupid for not taking the money, but at the end of the day I think it paid off pretty well.”

A feel-good story is great, but you’ve got to be a mauler too. The Seahawks seem to have faith he can be since general manager John Schneider described Zabel as tough several times throughout his press conference Thursday night.

Zabel will start out at guard for the Seahawks (head coach Mike Macdonald wouldn’t commit to a side) for a team that desperately needs improvement there. It’s probably not a great idea to expect a massive step forward to come from a rookie, but after missing out on a top free agent target, the Seahawks need to add where they can.

That’s how they fix the run, and that gets them a step closer to being who they want to be.