Rapid learning by top rookie Grey Zabel? Shows Seahawks culture Mike Macdonald’s building
If Grey Zabel continues learning at this pace, he’ll have a Ph.D. in NFL line play by opening day.
The Seahawks’ new starting left guard and first-round draft choice is in a crash course of pass-rush moves and countermoves through the first week of his first pro training camp.
Friday, the team’s highest-drafted interior offensive lineman since 2001 and future Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson got schooled by 10th-year veteran defensive tackle Jarran Reed. It was in a one-on-one pass-rush drill. Reed put a move on Zabel so quick and decisive at the snap, the 18th pick in this year’s draft fell back and down to the grass. Reed cruised by the fallen rookie to the quarterback.
Tuesday in this camp’s second practice with the players in full pads, 31-year-old Pro Bowl defensive end Leonard Williams beat him with a quick move inside and slammed into running back Zach Charbonnet in the backfield. That ruined one of the offense’s first snaps of 11-on-11 scrimmaging.
Yet Zabel keeps responding. And winning.
Saturday, in that day’s one-on-one pass-rush drill, the 6-foot-5, 317-pound left guard stonewalled charging, 334-pound nose tackle Brandon Pili on Pili’s first rep. Then Zabel and starting left tackle Charles Cross used their smarts plus lateral quickness and coordination in a combination stop of Williams and Derick Hall, the Seahawks’ top two returning pass rushers, on their crossing stunt.
Pili got a rematch with Zabel. Zabel stopped him again. This time the rookie kept his hands and feet in front of Pili through the nose tackle’s entire spin move to nowhere.
Monday, on the team’s first day in pads, Williams again went against Zabel in one of the first pass-rush snaps. Williams tried the same, quick inside move as Friday. Zabel anticipated it. The former North Dakota State star beat Williams to the spot, and won the rep.
His fellow offensive linemen roared.
Williams got past him early in Tuesday’s practice. Again, Zabel responded. In a contentious one-on-one pass-rush drill with the defensive linemen later in the practice, the rookie stopped the charge of Byron Murphy, the Seahawks’ first-round pick last year. Zabel then moved his quick feet and hands quickly and stayed in front of rookie linebacker Jared Ivey’s spin move. He stoned Mike Morris immediately upon the snap.
It was Zabel’s best NFL day yet.
Lessons learned, and growth, daily.
“I’ll give you guys sort of insider information,” Zabel said Tuesday, in veteran deadpan. “Coach (Mike) Macdonald probably doesn’t want me to, but: Leonard Williams, J-Reed, Murph — those guys are really, really good.”
He smiled.
“So, I don’t know if you guys knew that or not, but...,” he said.
Zabel credits his rapid growth already, six days into his first NFL preseason, five weeks before the season begins, to...Williams, Reed and Murphy. He says the veteran defensive linemen offer him technical advice such as on footwork and hand placement, plus reading “tells” by the defensive at the snap.
“These guys are some of the best leaders I’ve ever been around,” Zabel said.
“Like Leo talking to me the last few days in one on ones, helping me out. Assessing my pass(-blocking) sets. What he’s seeing. What I’m feeling.
“I mean, that’s just the type of person that Leonard is, the leader he is.”
Mike Macdonald’s “Twelve as One”
Williams, Reed and Murphy often give him the advice without Zabel asking. Zabel credits Macdonald and the culture he is building — the coach calls it “Twelve as One” — with these Seahawks who are trying to return to the playoff for the first time in three years this coming season.
Did he expect this much veteran help so soon in his NFL career.
“No,” Zabel said.
“Just kudos to the vets on this team for doing that. Because, as I’ve found out (talking to fellow rookies and friends around the NFL), that’s not normal around the league. So that’s just a testament to what Coach is building here and the type of culture that we have with the Seahawks.”
‘Big brother’ Charles Cross
Zabel’s new best friend helping him on offense?
His line neighbor and fourth-year veteran to his left.
“I can’t even put into words how much a guy like Charles Cross has helped me so far,” Zabel, 23, said. “He seems like a big brother to me.” How close are they already? They both “shot-gunned” cans of Gatorade on the field following practice Tuesday. Or at least tried to.
Zabel’s head coach isn’t surprised by his veterans helping the prized rookie. Macdonald also is not surprised Williams, a defensive player, is taking the lead in teaching the rookie offensive lineman and making him better. He knows Williams knows that teaching could, in turn, make the Seahawks’ offensive line better than its been for years.
“It shows you who Leo is...but I have seen it up to this point,” Macdonald said in his second NFL training camp as head man.
He said coaches can see on the film of practice reps Williams, Reed and other veterans pulling aside Zabel and the young offensive linemen tutoring them in the moment. The vets’ hand gestures and steps with their feet show up on the film.
It makes Macdonald smile.
Will it make new quarterback Sam Darnold and the Seahawks’ remade offense better in 2025?
Williams — and Macdonald — are counting on it.
“The guys are really conscientious about ‘Twelve as One,’” said the coach, while wearing a T-shirt with another of his mantras, “Chasing Edges.”
“We’re sharpening each other. We’re going to compete the heck out of each other when we’re going. But we are also going to support each other and hold each other to a certain standard.
“It’s great to see the vets set the example.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 4:59 PM.
