RENTON — It’s been a week now since Grey Zabel was taken with the 18th overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks.
A flurry of events that have followed culminated in the team introducing him to the media during a news conference Thursday afternoon at the VMAC.
But even participating in the NFL rite of passage for first-round picks — holding up his jersey in front of a bevy of cameras while team officials and others on hand applaud — has yet to truly make it all seem real.
“Still hasn’t sunk in yet,’’ Zabel said a few minutes after posing for pictures with his jersey alongside general manager and president of football operations John Schneider. “Have to wake up and pinch myself every single morning that I get to play for the Seattle Seahawks. It probably never will sink in.’’
Maybe it will a little more Friday when Zabel and 71 other players hit the field at the VMAC for the beginning of the team’s rookie minicamp.
The group includes 10 other draft picks, 16 or so undrafted free agent signees and a few dozen invited to try out.
“Super excited,’’ Zabel said. “Any time you get to tie your cleats up and hit the grass, you’ve got to be grateful. It’s a get-to mentality, not a have-to mentality. I get to go practice tomorrow and show up to one of the best jobs you can possibly have.’’
That answer helped encapsulate much of what drew the Seahawks to Zabel during the pre-draft process.
The 6-foot-6, 316-pound Zabel was already on everyone’s radar during his career at North Dakota State. He played in 62 games with 41 starts, getting significant snaps at both tackle spots and left guard.
He impressed enough in the 2022 and 2023 seasons that he got six-figure offers from Power Five schools to transfer prior to the 2024 season.
Zabel, a native of Pierre, S.D., turned them down, saying he felt loyal to North Dakota State and also thought he could achieve his NFL dreams staying where he was.
Indeed, NDSU has won 10 Football Championship Subdivision titles since 2011, including this year’s. Zabel also became the fifth Bison player taken in the first or second round since 2021 and the sixth offensive linemen overall in the last 12 years.
“Guys come out of there very well-coached, highly competitive, smart (with) a lot of want-to,’’ Schneider said. “Those are great traits.’’
Zabel moved further up Seattle’s draft list when he was generally regarded as playing as well as any interior offensive lineman at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., in late January.
Zabel played all 16 games in 2024 at left tackle, but Seattle wanted a guard and found out quickly in Mobile that Zabel would fit the bill.
“Watching him steal reps from people,’’ Schneider said of what he noticed of Zabel there. “He literally couldn’t wait to take reps at center, left guard, right guard. Just seeing that competitor and the want-to.’’
Further meetings with Seahawks Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson, who now works in a role as a consultant in the pre-draft process, at the Senior Bowl and combine only further enhanced the team’s interest in Zabel.
Schneider said on Thursday that Zabel was at the top of a list of four interior offensive linemen the team hoped to draft with the 18th overall pick.
The Seahawks felt confident they would get one of the four at 18, which is why they hadn’t done much during the free agent period to add to the line.
The Seahawks wanted to make a run at Will Fries of the Colts, who was regarded as the top free agent guard available.
Those plans fell through when Seattle wanted to bring in Fries, who suffered a broken fibula last October, for a physical. Other teams didn’t make the same request, and Fries ended up signing with the Vikings.
