It was a bright day in Mobile, Alabama. There was no shade to be found in Hancock Whitney Stadium as a collection of pasty white media members quickly realized they should have packed sunscreen when they traveled from all over the country to watch the best players college football had to offer in their first padded practice. Those in attendance ranged from unknowns, to former players and coached like Brian Baldinger and Rick Neuheisel, to draft analyst loyalty like Dane Brugler, Todd McShay, and Daniel Jeremiah. The talk before practice began was about the microscopic hand size measurements of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe or the massive length of Kentucky defensive lineman, Deone Walker. There was a buzz about the quality of offensive and defensive line talent on the rosters, with focus on highly rated players like OT Josh Conerly Jr., OT Aireontae Ersery, and Edge Mike Green. Nobody was talking about a small school kid from North Dakota State. That would soon change.
The Senior Bowl divides the stadium in half, with the home side of the field reserved for NFL team coaches, front office personnel and scouts and the away side open to media. There are suites where the teams sit high above the field to survey all the action, but they have full run of the place and can choose to make the long trip down to the field to watch any drill or any player up close. John Schneider and Mike Macdonald made their first appearance fieldside when the offensive linemen started their position drills. A year prior, neither man was present in Mobile as Macdonald was not yet a Seahawk and Schneider was still trying to finalize his first coaching hire.
They stood shoulder-to-shoulder observing the players hitting sleds and coming out of their stances. Other personnel folks from across the league would stop by to chat up Schneider throughout the drills. A horn sounded, signifying it was time to transition to the next part of practice. The linemen started walking across the field. Schneider and Macdonald followed. This continued for a while. Wherever the offensive linemen went, so did Schneider and Macdonald. It finally came time for the biggest moment of the Senior Bowl. No, it’s not the game. It’s not even team drills. It is 1v1 pass rush drills.
Mobile is the only place during the pre-draft process where teams can watch offensive and defensive linemen square off in padded pass rush drills. This is where small school players like Marshall’s Green can prove his production as a pass rusher was not only about level of competition.
The scene was a fusion of Friday Night Lights and Mad Max. Player after player line up across from one another, preparing for a war that will last no more than a few seconds. They were encircled by a mass of scouts and coaches and general managers and high level media, watching every twitch, every step.
Each matchup between offensive and defensive linemen usually went for two reps. You might see Green embarrass highly touted Conerly Jr. on one rep, and then get stonewalled on the next. Ersery, a player some thought was a first round tackle prospect, lost more reps than he won. Marcus Mbow moved differently than the other linemen, but had trouble withstanding power rushers with his slight frame. Wyatt Milum was a hot name coming into the day, but struggled to block anyone. Lanky tackle Ozzy Trapilo had some rough reps before finding his footing.
One player stood above them all. Grey Zabel, from tiny North Dakota State, easily won his first rep. Then his second. His turn came up again. He dominated again. This would continue. It did not matter where he lined up. It did not matter who lined up across from him. Zabel won. He took snaps at tackle, guard and center. Nobody could beat him.
I would later find out that defensive players started requesting Zabel during the drill, resulting in him taking more reps than any other linemen. All challengers left the ring shaking their heads, unable to get around or through the farmer from Pierre, South Dakota.
My notes from that drill:
Good rep zabel 77
77 wins
77 again. Very solid. Dominick Puni vibes.
77 stones Ty Robinson
77 again!!Zabel replicated the performance the next day. He had proven he belonged with the best competition college football had to offer. Many players leave the Senior Bowl after one or two days of practice if they have demonstrated their worth. Agents may advise them to avoid injury or losing ground they had gained with a bad rep. No player in Mobile had helped himself more than Zabel. Nobody would have been surprised if he left after having made himself a lot of money the first and second days of practice. Instead, while player after player departed, Zabel stayed.
The thinning of the rosters meant the remaining players had to cover additional positions and reps. Zabel took snaps at center and guard. He played extensively during team drills and the game on Saturday. Schneider and Macdonald were there for it all.
“I like how he finishes the blocks,” Macdonald said. “Then finding his targets down the field in space. He’s a really great athlete, how he moves. It’s easy to overlook pass protection when you talk wide zone all the time. You can argue that’s really where it starts in the evaluation process. Hard to find a rep that he had a hard time winning down in Mobile (Alabama). He took a lot of them.”
“He was stealing reps,” Schneider said, referencing the defensive players requesting Zabel as a challenge. “It was pretty cool. He stood out. He could have left. He was voted practice player of the week. A lot of those guys leave. They don’t stay for the game. Improve their draft value or whatever. He stayed, competed, played guard and center in the game. He stood out down there, for sure.”
Zabel would go on to blow people away at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. He registered the highest vertical leap (36.5″) of any guard measured in the history of the combine. His agility was in the 90th percentile. His overall Relative Athletic Score (RAS) was in the 99th percentile for the thousands of guards who have been measured since the 80s. Notably, one of the players who had a similar athletic profile at the guard position was Will Fries, the free agent Seattle tried to sign this off-season.
Should Seattle try him at center, the closest athletic comps are Frank Ragnow and Ryan Kelly, two of the best centers in the game.
The combination of the Senior Bowl and the Combine led to a massive rise in where draft analysts expected him to go. What started as a projected 3rd-4th round pick, climbed all the way into the first round. Jeremiah had him going to the San Francisco 49ers at #11 in his final mock draft.
There was little question that Zabel was an ideal fit for the Seahawks. His movement skills set him apart from a guy like Tyler Booker, who had alarming athletic testing numbers at the Combine. The offense that Klint Kubiak runs depends on linemen who can beat the defender to a spot more than someone who is simply a people mover.
Much will be made of Zabel’s versatility, but that is often another way to say a player is not outstanding at any one position. His short arms make him an unlikely tackle in the NFL. That will likely be a spot he plays only in emergencies despite playing predominantly left tackle in college. His highest upside position might be center, but he can be terrific at guard.
Drafting him first puts Seattle in the driver’s seat to take the best players that come to them the rest of the draft. They could still draft another guard and possibly move Zabel to center or take a center and keep him at guard.
Who he is as a player and a person is a story we will tell over the coming weeks, months, and years. What his selection represents is a story worth dwelling on now.
Schneider has taken a lot of heat for his approach to building the Seahawks offensive line. Depending on how you view Ethan Pocic who started his Seahawks career as a tackle, Schneider had never take an interior linemen before the 3rd round. That was not unique to Schneider. Zabel was the first guard taken by the Seahawks in the 1st round since 2001 when they selected Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson with the 17th pick. It was poetic that Hutchinson was a big part of evaluating and advocating for Zabel.
It was clear from Schneider’s comments and demeanor after the round ended that he had wanted to trade back but could not find a partner. The rest of the NFL may have done Schneider and the Seahawks a huge favor. Zabel was the top interior linemen on Seattle’s board. Schneider said he felt confident they would have had another guy they liked available if they moved back, but it would not have been Zabel.
Too often, the Seahawks have moved back in the 1st round to gather additional picks and wound up taking players lower on their board than if they had stayed put. That has never worked. Schneider has not traded back the last four drafts in the first round, and it is probably not a coincidence that nobody regrets the picks they made in those drafts.
Macdonald was likely an influence here. I asked him during and after the season about his perspective on the importance of the offensive line and the interior line, in particular. He has said, more than once, that the positions in the middle of the field (defensive tackle, middle linebacker, safety, interior offensive line) are more valuable than conventional NFL wisdom might imply.
He has made a name for himself by elevating players on the defensive middle. He knows how critical the interior offensive line is for attacking defenses. One of the other important moments at the Senior Bowl was when Macdonald went through each and every position group on the roster, sharing strengths and weaknesses to the assembled Seahawks scouting department. There is little doubt his grade would not be high for that part of the team.
One of Schneider’s defining characteristics is frugality. Frugal can mean cheap. That’s not the meaning here. Schneider abhors getting a bad deal. He doesn’t want to spend more on a free agent than he perceives their worth to be and does not went to spend a draft pick on a player who he deems unworthy of the selection. That has served him well in some cases, and hurt him in others.
He acknowledged that one of the adjustments they made coming into this draft was pushing interior offensive linemen up a round from where their grades might warrant being drafted. The only other position he does that for in quarterback.
That means it is likely Schneider had other players at other positions with a higher grade than Zabel. It had to be challenging for him to stick and pick. He knew he was paying a premium. Macdonald likely helped make the case it was the best thing to do for the team.
Some would take that as credit to Macdonald. Those people should remember who hired Macdonald and who has created an environment where people below Schneider in the org chart are comfortable speaking up and advocating for a position that may not align with his own.
The Seahawks are now in position to have a franchise-changing draft. They have four picks in the second and third rounds. There is reason to think Seattle will try to move up to get one of the players they had first round grades on who are still available. That might be a guy like safety Nick Emmanwori or a tight end like Mason Taylor or a wide receiver or even a quarterback.
This is the strength of this draft class. There are difference makers to be found. The best teams in football invest in their offensive and defensive lines. Seattle would be wise to continue what they started when by taking Zabel. They could easily take another two offensive linemen and two defensive tackles. Schneider has talked about the journey he and Macdonald are on to build that tough, gritty, roster that plays in a way opponents do not want to match. This draft has the potential to be the tipping point in getting there.
It all started on that sunny day in Mobile, Alabama.