Seahawks fans get some great news from early-season rookie rankings

Seattle Seahawks' general manager John Schneider began a major reconstruction of his offense early this offseason when he dealt away quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver DK Metcalf, and allowed franchise legend Tyler Lockett to depart via free agency. Those players constituted a significant part of the Seahawks’ offensive identity.

A little more under the radar, Schneider made no effort to re-sign free agent left guard Laken Tomlinson, who had been one of the steadier performers on a beleaguered offensive line. With the 18th pick in the draft, Schneider may have figured he could find a younger upgrade at the position.

According to NFL.com’s Gennaro Felice, it was a smart decision. Felice recently published his ranking of the best rookies in the NFL after the first four weeks of the 2025 season. Seahawks’ first-round pick Grey Zabel placed seventh on the list. He was the highest-ranked of the seven offensive linemen singled out by Felice.

Grey Zabel has done exactly what the Seattle Seahawks hoped he would do

Zabel stepped in at left guard from day one and has never looked back. It is obvious he still has a lot of room to improve. He will get physically stronger, and he will learn the nuances of the game. But if his early performance is any indication, Zabel will be an anchor on the offensive line for many years to come.

As Felice points out, Zabel has played all of Seattle’s 240 offensive snaps this season. Right tackle Abraham Lucas is the only other Seahawk to play every snap. He has surrendered zero sacks and committed zero penalties.

As a point of comparison, the veteran Tomlinson, now in Houston, has played far fewer snaps and has given up two sacks while committing one penalty.

The results have been obvious on the field. Zabel is one of two new starters on the offensive line. He is now playing left guard next to his college teammate Jalen Sundell, who has been starting at center. The rest of the line, which was considered a major weakness on last year’s team, is intact.

Through four weeks, the Hawks have improved their yards per play from 14th in the league last year (5.5 yards) to 8th this year (5.7). What makes that even more impressive is that they are much better balanced this year. They are running more.

Last year, they struggled to open holes for Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet. Geno Smith was forced to throw more. That makes an increase in yards-per-play an even more significant factor since a team’s passing yardage is almost always higher than its rushing output.

Seattle is currently 18th in the league in rushing and is still looking to improve on that number. But they finished last season ranked 28th in rushing, so the metamorphosis appears to be well underway.

Zabel has not merely helped improve the running game. Last season, Geno Smith was sacked the third-most times in the entire league. That is partly because Seattle’s ineffective running attack forced them to throw more, and partly because their offensive coordinator never seemed to commit to running the ball in the first place.

But it was mainly due to injury (Lucas missed much of the year) and poor play (aside from left tackle Charles Cross, the line simply didn’t protect very well).

Through four games, with Lucas healthy and Zabel on the inside, Seattle is tied for sixth in fewest sacks allowed. That is not all attributable to Zabel, but he has been a key factor in the improvement.

The most encouraging thing about Zabel’s early performance is that he will continue to get better. Playing next to Cross, it shouldn’t be long before Seattle has one of the best left sides in the entire league.

After whiffing on several recent offensive line draft picks, Schneider needed to hit big on this year’s first-rounder. Fortunately, it appears he did just that.