What Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said about top draft pick Grey Zabel

Less than 24 hours after drafting him, the Seattle Seahawks are already enamored with new offensive lineman Grey Zabel.

Zabel, the No. 18 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, fills a massive need for the Seahawks along the interior of the offensive line, and has the potential to be a future star up front. He's big, athletic, plays with an edge and can play virtually anywhere up front, basically everything the Seahawks could ask for in a lineman.

North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel during the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Already, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald is thinking about what Zabel can do in this offense.

"I like how he finishes the blocks, then finding his targets down the field in space," Macdonald told reporters Thursday night. "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 (at the Senior Bowl). He took a lot of them."

It's no secret at all that the Seahawks' offensive line held them back not only last year, but for the past several years. Seattle allowed 54 sacks last season, tied for the third most in the league, and Geno Smith was constantly under duress. Run blocking was not much better, as despite having two solid backs in Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, Seattle consistently struggled to move the ball on the ground.

Other offseason moves, such as bringing in a new offensive coordinator in Klint Kubiak, should help the unit improve, but it felt like the Seahawks were ignoring their biggest issue for far too long. With the selection of Zabel, though, they finally showed a commitment to improving the area that needed it most.

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