Grey Zabel is overhyped!
"When I started seeing him at 18 to the Seahawks, I was like “Wow, this feels like an overcorrection.”
What if I told you that the player who was going to defy decades of draft history at his position, both locally and league wide, and who would force the Seahawks GM to re-write his own quotes about guards being “overdrafted”, was in fact a second round pick who the media has convinced you is not only a worthy pick for Seattle at 18…he’s the only pick.
That would take a generational talent at center or guard. We had one of those three years ago, Tyler Linderbaum, a two-time All-American center at Iowa who was compared to future Hall of Famer Jason Kelce and had a 6.70 prospect grade from NFL.com despite size concerns. Linderbaum went 25th.
Unfortunately, Grey Zabel (6.34 prospect grade) is only one of the best of the 2025 draft class — a weak class for offensive linemen — and wouldn’t be a first round pick in most years. Fans should not be THIS convinced that Zabel is even a first round pick this year, let alone top-20, but the media can’t help themselves once you give them the power to draft picks to the Seahawks based solely on NEEDS.
For Zabel to be the second-highest drafted center of the 21st century, he would have to be in the conversation as the best overall prospect in the class, but instead a “day two playing career” with a “second round athletic profile” who didn’t play center in high school or college has suddenly become a “top-20 pick” based on a few days of snapping practice at an All-Star showcase. And I would love the Seahawks to draft Zabel at some point but…
THIS SHOULD CONCERN ANYONE WHO WANTS A FIRST ROUND OL:
They’re OVER-DRAFTING a guard!
Seahawks fans should be used to mock draft writers being wrong about who Seattle will pick, but I can’t recall the last time that all of them were so singularly focused on one prospect. It would be hard to argue against a player who perfectly embodied what it means to be a “Seahawks first round pick” like Devon Witherspoon in 2023 (yet very few of us saw that one coming), but somehow the annual obsession for Seattle is always the type of player who the franchise NEVER takes early.
By all accounts Zabel would make the Seahawks better, but if you’re going to write or podcast a mock draft where John Schneider uses the 18th overall pick on a center/guard then you need to have an explanation for why Seattle takes Zabel that DOES NOT REFERENCE THE TEAM’S NEEDS.
Because you couldn’t do it based on his tape or size or resume:
“Short arms”
“Walked back in pass protection” (also happened at Senior Bowl)
“Lean body who lacks lower half to anchor against power rushers”
“15 penalties in last 2 years”
“39 of 40 starts against FCS competition”
If you can’t explain why the Seahawks would draft Zabel, a consensus day two prospect until a few days of practices in Mobile, at 18th overall without mentioning needs, then you’re not describing the type of center or guard who gets drafted in the top-20, let alone by the GM who says taking that position in the first round is a mistake.
But finally I found a draft analyst, someone who does a better job than me of describing why Zabel is not a top-20 pick regardless of team fits and needs: The McShay Show co-host Steve Muench, a former offensive lineman and the source of those TIERS that I showed you in the beginning:
“So to me when I started seeing him at 18 (to the Seahawks), I was like “Wow, this feels like an overcorrection.” I just think that this is a player that people saw at the Senior Bowl and loved what he did there, rightfully so, but there are still enough things there to be concerned about (to hesitate taking him in the first round).”
A consensus third round pick prior to the Senior Bowl, it’s amazing to see that most people won’t even bat an eyelash when mocking Zabel as the second-highest drafted center of the 2000s or a rare top-20 guard…and that’s assuming he can even successfully make the transition from tackle.
Zabel’s floor is probably that he’s a very good starting guard or center for whoever drafts him and his ceiling could be that he’s one of the five best players at his position. That’s all well and fine, but it doesn’t make him a top-20 pick even in the weakest of interior classes.
Of course it only takes one GM to prove me wrong — just yesterday I saw Mike Mayock (who I respect) take him 13th overall to the Dolphins — and if at some point in the last 12 months our universe’s timeline was jutted off course and into another dimension, Schneider will have woken up a changed man who bucks every trend in Seahawks history.
But I don’t think so.
I would be very happy if the Seahawks drafted Grey Zabel at some point, but these are the reasons that the mock drafter’s “consensus” pick for Seattle at 18 is overhyped and tremendously out of place as an unexplainable first round choice when you’re disallowed to mention NEEDS: