Seahawks fans rejoice as John Schneider add a talented offensive line prospect.
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NFL Draft season has come and gone in what seemed like a blink of an eye. Throughout most of the offseason, Seattle Seahawks fans were clamoring for the team to improve the struggling offensive line. After starting left guard Laken Tomlinson left in free agency and the Seahawks only added backup level talent at the position, this desire for offensive lineman grew even larger.
With this said, it make sense that the overwhelming majority of Seahawks fans polled liked the teams’ first round draft pick of Grey Zabel. A whopping 94% of Seahawks fans polled graded the 18th overall pick with an A or a B, with 71% giving an A grade, 23% giving a B grade, and only 6% grading at a C or below.
Coming out of North Dakota State, Zabel, who can play all five spots on the offensive line, was projected to be a top 50 pick. After his standout performance at the Senior Bowl, Zabel’s stock skyrocketed to a sure fire first round pick. Entering the draft, nearly every Seahawks fan and national pundits knew Seattle needed an offensive lineman. Despite this, many fans and national pundits predicted Seattle would go elsewhere with their first round pick and look to add to the offensive line on day two.
Instead, Schneider drafted the versatile offensive lineman, Zabel, at 18th overall, becoming the highest interior player the Seahawks have drafted since Hall of Famer, Steve Hutchinson in 2001. Many of the fans who were skeptical of taking offensive in the first round likely concerned because there was many other talented players to take at other positions, such as defensive back and wide receiver. Well, the next day, Schneider helped appease those fans as well when he was able to trade back up to 35 overall to select South Carolina safety, Nick Emmanwori, who many also had a first-round grade on. Considering the fact that Schneider was able to get both Zabel and Emmanwori surely makes the selection of a “meat and potatoes” offensive lineman in the first round even more sweet for Seahawks fans, even those who were skeptical of going offensive line at 18 overall.
Zabel projects to be penciled in as the starting left guard for training camp, with the potential to slide to one of the other interior spots.
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