How rookie Grey Zabel is not a Seahawks rookie two games into his NFL career
Grey Zabel is so comfortable so quickly, his NFL Seahawks debut seems to have happened years ago.
Left tackle Charles Cross, center Jalen Sundell, right guard Anthony Bradford and right tackle Abe Lucas have a combined 13 seasons in the league across Seattle’s starting offensive line.
Zabel has two games. Yet coach Mike Macdonald said this Wednesday about the left guard Seattle made its highest drafted interior offensive lineman since Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson in 2001: “Grey is steady, which is what we need. We need a tough, steady force inside of our offensive line.
“And I think his chemistry with Charles, Jalen, and Olu (Oluwatimi) is really cool. That’s what we need on our offensive line,” Macdonald said.
“Even being a rookie, he’s a driving force behind their chemistry. And it doesn’t feel like he’s a rookie. I guess that’s probably the biggest compliment I could give him.”
Biggest and best. That’s what Zabel and 2022 first-round pick Cross have been on the left side of the Seahawks’ offensive line through two games.
Last Sunday in beating Pittsburgh, lead back Kenneth Walker and number two Zach Charbonnet had 17 of the team’s 29 carries and 71 of Seattle’s 117 yards rushing, plus the only rushing touchdown, behind Zabel and Cross on the left side. Walker scored the game-clinching touchdown run of 19 yards on third and goal with 4 minutes left behind Zabel blowing his guy down inside and Cross crunching a poor little defensive back into the left sideline.
On the play, Steelers were splayed across the left side of the field like felled bowling pins. The blocks from Zabel, Cross and tight end Eric Saubert were so good Walker ran untouched into the end zone on third and goal from the 19.
“Yeah, that was pretty fun,” Zabel said Wednesday, four days before the Seahawks (1-1) host the New Orleans Saints (0-2) at Lumen Field. “It’s easy to have a play like that when you have a guy like K-9 (Walker, his jersey number is 9) behind you running the ball. Super excited for the week that he had last week.
“And I think it just goes to show the type of back he is and how remarkable he is, how explosive he is. Super excited to block for our running backs week in and week out.”
Cross plays to Zabel’s immediate left. Sundell starts immediately to Zabel’s right.
Sundell was Zabel’s roommate for Zabel’s final three years at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Sundell joined the NFL a year bfore Zabel did. Sundell was a rookie free agent for Seattle in 2024.
Now the former NDSU roommates are line neighbors in the NFL. Immediately before kickoff of the season opener against San Francisco at Lumen Field two weeks ago, they walked out of the locker room on to the edge of Lumen Field. They looked at each other. And they marveled.
They are starting in Seattle, and in Pittsburgh, a long way from Fargo.
“I mean, it was pretty cool,” Sundell said. “It was a little bit (surreal) coming out of the tunnel right next to each other. Pretty cool.”
When The News Tribune asked Zabel what it means that Macdonald said it doesn’t feel like he’s a Seahawks rookie, the first-round draft choice said: “I think you’ve got to give credit to the guys around me then. Charles Cross is doing a remarkable job, bringing me in, getting me up to speed. Playing next to him is so fun. He’s such a great player, such a great person. I think we’re enjoying it.
“And then obviously a guy like Jalen, I’ve been playing next to him since my freshman year of college. Having that cohesiveness is super nice. At the end of the day you can’t be a rookie in this league because you get that pass through the first play of the season and then the rest of the time you got to be a left guard that protects your QB.”
Zabel, Sundell deep NDSU root
Zabel is so tight with Sundell, he got emotional Wednesday talking about his NDSU roommate and teammate in 2021, ‘22 and ‘23.
Unsolicited, Zabel detailed how Sundell has gone from undrafted to an NFL starting center in 16 months.
“I love it,” Zabel said.
“I don’t know if you guys know much about Jalen’s story. He was a center throughout college. Played left tackle his senior year. Went through a foot injury during college and then reinjured his foot senior year of college in the draft process. He was able to do pro day, got medical, by quite a few teams, and just continued to battle that entire summer and that entire year. He comes into fall camp last year, earns a spot on the 53-(man roster), plays a little bit last year.”
That was his 2024 rookie year with the Seahawks. Sundell was a backup tackle, guard and center.
Then this year?
“Busted his ass during OTAs the entire summer,” Zabel said of Sundell. “Comes into fall camp, earns a starting spot, and then is playing in the NFL.
“I’m so proud of that guy, everything that he’s done. The relentlessness that he has is just remarkable.”
Tears welled in the bottom of the dark eyes of the 6-foot-6, 316-pound guard.
“It makes me emotional talking about it, because I lived with him for three years,” Zabel said. “And I know how hard of a worker he is. Seeing the success that he’s had doesn’t surprise me, but at the same time, it makes me happy. It’s a remarkable story.
“I love J. I love playing next to him. “And hopefully we continue that for a really long time.”
NDSU text chain
North Dakota State pride, a Bison brotherhood, has carried into the NFL beyond Seattle.
Eight NDSU products are on active roster of teams around the league. That includes Zabel’s and Sundell’s fellow offensive linemen Dillon Radunz with Tennessee, Cordell Volson with Cincinnati, and Cody Mauch with Tampa Bay.
Zabel, Sundell, Radunz, Volson and Mauch have a text-message group chat on their phones. They trade intelligence reports on the defensive linemen and linebackers each NDSU blocker has just faced in an NFL game.
It’s a co-op scouting report among college buddies now trying to use each other to “chase edges,” as Macdonald loves to tell his Seahawks, in the NFL.
Zabel loves the camaraderie, and the utility, of the NDSU NFL group chat.
“Absolutely. It’s fun to check in on those guys,” he said.
“It’s kind of funny we text in there almost, I want to say, every Thursday or Friday, and just get a scouting report of other defensive linemen across the league that they’ve already played. Like, ‘Hey, what works? What doesn’t work?’
“My buddy Cordell Volson, I texted him all last week about Cam Heyward (the Steelers’ veteran defensive tackle), since he’s gone against him six times (as Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are AFC North rivals).
“You can attribute Cordell to a little bit of success that I had against Cam.”
So Volson, a guard, had an accurate report on Heyward?
“When he said he (Heyward) was one of the strongest players he’s ever played against, I’m like, ‘OK, that carries some weight,’” Zabel said, three days after the Seahawks beat Heyward’s Steelers 31-17 in Pittsburgh.
“And then you play him in a game, and you text him immediately afterwards like, ‘Wow, that guy is extremely strong. You were spot on.’”
Between familiarity with his center, the fun he has playing with Cross and the intel he gets from his NDSU boys, Zabel is fitting in quite nicely in Seattle as a first-day rookie starter.
Oh, yeah, don’t call him a rookie.
“At the end of the day you can’t be a rookie in this league, because you get that pass through the first play of the season,” Zabel said. “And then the rest of the time you got to be a left guard that protects your QB.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
