When you need a guard, a Cabeldue

Did the Seahawks draft their future at right guard in the sixth round?

Very few high school football players get the opportunity to play D-1 college football, but getting a scholarship to play sports at Kansas feels like an athlete is hitting their peak there in anything that isn’t men’s basketball. This despite the fact that if any Big 12 school wants you to play football for them, you must be good and you’re probably one of the best athletes to ever come out of your high school, if not your entire city.

Such would be the case for Seahawks sixth rounder Bryce Cabeldue, a two-star recruit in 2020 out of Clovis, New Mexico who committed to Kansas at a time when the program had won 16 games in their previous eight seasons combined.

Ohio State and Notre Dame both won 14 games just last year.

Cabeldue was ranked as the 239th best OT prospect in the 2020 class by 247 Sports, a group led by 2023 top-10 pick Paris Johnson in the top spot and the closest recognizable name outside of the top-100 being Taliese Fuaga out of Tacoma at number 145.

In Cabeldue’s first season on campus he immediately found out what it means to be a Jayhawks football player as Kansas went 0-9 in 2020. Luckily for Cabeldue, he didn’t have to be held responsible for a winless season as a true freshman tackle, but he did get two starts at right tackle at the end of the season. Cabeldue would also know what it was like to be a key starter for a Jayhawks team that went 9-4 a few years later, their best record in over 15 years.

Five years at Kansas playing both left and right tackle would eventually help Cabeldue become only the second player in Clovis High School history to be drafted into the NFL* and the only New Mexico native to be drafted in the last six years; because as I wrote earlier, you might be a “mediocre recruit” to 247 and Rivals, but a two-star player going to Kansas is a big deal in some states!

*Funnily enough, Clovis High School made this announcement in a press release after the Seahawks picked Cabeldue, but they’re actually both right and wrong: Clovis credits receiver Hank Baskett as the other player drafted by the NFL, but Baskett was an undrafted free agent. The first and only other Clovis grad to be drafted was actually running back Jerry Nuzum, a third round pick by the Steelers in 1948.

There’s not a lot known about Cabeldue’s high school playing career because he’s at the position without stats. It’s been a problem that has followed offensive linemen since the beginning of the sport.

What we know is that Cabeldue was a three-sport star athlete at Clovis, was named All-State in football as a senior, and Kansas was the only Power Five program to make him a scholarship offer. Had other schools known just how athletic Cabeldue was at the time and how much he would develop in the coming years, the stars and the offers would have undoubtedly increased dramatically.

Over the 2021-2023 seasons, Cabeldue would start 36 games at right tackle as Kansas improved to 2-10 the first year, 6-7 the second, and then 9-4 during his redshirt junior campaign. In 2023, Kansas was ranked as high as 16th, their first time in the polls since 2009. Cabeldue would then switch over to left tackle for his senior season in 2024.

From 2022-2024, Cabeldue helped pave the way for running back Devin Neal to accumulate 3,636 rushing yards and 41 touchdowns. Neal was drafted in the sixth round by the New Orleans Saints, eight spots ahead of Cabeldue.

But Cabeldue wasn’t drafted by Seattle because he was the best player on the best college football team (Kansas dropped to 5-7 last year) or even to play tackle.

Cabeldue is on the Seahawks because after a strong showing at the East-West Shrine Bowl and athletic testing at his pro day, his upside after a move inside to guard is high enough to believe that maybe Seattle landed an offensive lineman in the sixth round who could be good enough to start in the future.

Cabeldue was highlighted by NFL.com as one of the 10-best at the Shrine Bowl:

Another Jayhawk makes the list, as Cabeldue really stood out on the interior despite the fact that he only played a handful of snaps at guard while at Kansas. He has guard size, though, and his hip explosion and strong hands helped him control his man off the snap in various run-blocking schemes. His experience at tackle (three-plus years starting on the right side before moving to the left side this past fall) taught him to widen his base and keep his body aligned over his feet in pass protection.

And two months later he was again leading off an article as one of the biggest standouts from the Big 12 pro day:

'I don't think he's a secret anymore': Bryce Cabeldue turns heads with a huge Big 12 Pro Day

When scouts sat down with KU offensive line coach Daryl Agpalsa, (Jayhawks 4-star tackle) Logan Brown would have been a frequent topic. But, scouts typically ask about other draft eligible players and someone Agpalsa pounded the table for was Bryce Cabeldue.

"Nobody listened to me," Agpalsa said. "No, I'm telling you. Every scout asked me that question, and I'm being completely transparent, I said, 'Somebody's going to get a diamond in the rough because that kid is an ultra athlete.' And unfortunately, through bad coaching, he should be playing guard. But we need him to play tackle."

Cabeldue was one of the highest-graded offensive tackles in the FBS during the 2024 season, per PFF. His grade of 80.0 ranked No. 12 among FBS tackles who played at least 700 snaps.

Cabeldue ran a 4.95-second 40 with a 4.59-second shuttle. He had a 32-inch vertical and a 9-foot-6 broad jump. Per the RAS (relative athletic score) metrics for guards, Cabelude's explosion grade was elite and his speed grade was elite. He comes out as one of the most athletic interior offensive linemen in the 2025 class.

At 6’4, 308 lbs and 33” arms, Cabeldue won’t have the chops to be anything more than a spot replacement at tackle in a pinch, but there’s also some question as to whether or not he’s powerful enough to hold blocks against NFL-quality defensive tackles at guard. At this time, Cabeldue probably isn’t strong enough for the job, which you’ll see if you watch this breakdown by Legion of 12s, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t get there by 2026.

The classic problem with gaining weight/power is that you sacrifice some speed and athleticism, but perhaps in Cabeldue’s case he is so athletic that he’s got some to spare. The highest-rated guard in the class was teammate Grey Zabel, and although we didn’t get a 40-yard dash time to compare between the two, the only guard who ran that fast at the combine was Jonah Savaiinaea. We do know that Zabel had a much better vert (36.5” to 32”) but Cabeldue beat him on the broad (9’6 to 9’3).

By all accounts, the Seahawks would love to see Cabeldue progress into a starter by 2026.

As of today, Seattle must be confident that they have a left guard with Zabel, but times remain tough at center and right guard. It’s not that players can’t step up between now and the end of training camp, it’s just that the Seahawks refused to give up on the options that they drafted or signed in the last two years by securing a definitive veteran starter. Maybe that’ll turn out to be a great decision — it probably IS too soon to give up on them — but those two jobs are wide open.

And it is not out of the realm of possibility that eventually it will be Zabel starting at center, meaning that the Seahawks would have two positions at guard that need to be filled.

As Christian Haynes and Anthony Bradford battle it out to prove that either of them were worthy of being third and fourth round picks, Cabeldue and seventh rounder Mason Richman find themselves on a roster that didn’t sign or trade for a guard who should be guaranteed the job. On one hand, Haynes and Bradford could have an entire year ahead to prove themselves as long-term starters…

On the other, they have that much time to screw it up and lose the job. In which case, the extra power gained if he hits the weight room and development if (in the words of his own Kansas OL coach) “better coaching” puts him in a position to be a starting-caliber guard, then Seattle may find that if they need an upgrade, sometimes a Cabeldue.

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