How Hall of Famer Steve Hutchinson got Grey Zabel to needy Seahawks O-line and into his 76

Yahoo

02-05-2025

No doubt whose legacy Grey Zabel is stepping into with the Seahawks.
The legend he's following is all for it. He made it happen, even.
General manager John Schneider formally introduced Zabel to Seattle and the NFL Thursday. Seven days earlier, the Seahawks made Zabel the 18th pick of this year's draft. The rookie from North Dakota State is the highest-selected interior offensive lineman drafted by the Seahawks since 2001.
That was the year they chose Steve Hutchinson.
Hutchinson became an instant starter, then started on Seattle's first Super Bowl team in the 2005 season. He became a five-time All-Pro -- and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
On Thursday, Schneider and Zabel stood side by side in the main auditorium of team headquarters. The GM held up Zabel's new jersey and number to be the team's new left guard.
It's 76. Hutchinson's number while becoming a Seahawks immortal.
From his first days, months and games in the NFL, Zabel's going to be playing Hutchinson's position, while wearing his number.
'I'm super-grateful for him,' Zabel said.
Already, four months before his first NFL game, he's got a ton to be thankful for about Hutchinson.
Wearing Hutchinson's number is largely because of Erik Kennedy. 'EK,' as he's known around the team, is an institution with the Seahawks. Their director of equipment has been with the team for 36 years.
Kennedy has remained close with the 47-year-old Hutchinson, including after the Hall of Famer left Seattle to sign with the Minnesota Vikings in the spring of 2006.
It was Kennedy's idea to assign number 76 to Zabel.
'Pretty cool,' Schneider said.
Zabel's been linked with the Hall of Famer since January. That's when Hutchinson met with Zabel for the first time, at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. Hutchinson did that in his role as a consultant for Schneider and the Seahawks' personnel staff, particularly on offensive linemen.
Hutchinson was impressed by Zabel's dominant play at tackle and some guard on a national championship-caliber line at North Dakota State of the Football Championship Subdivision. So were Seahawks vice president for player personnel Trent Kirchner and Kirk Parrish, the team's senior college scouting coordinator.
Hutchinson, Schneider, Kirchner, Parrish and coach Mike Macdonald were on the field at the Senior Bowl. They were wowed at Zabel playing center, guard AND tackle in drills that week in Mobile.
'Funny story, Hutch and Trent right when we got down there, they were talking about a different player, and they were like 'This guy's really struggling with his confidence.' I thought they were talking about Grey,' Schneider said Thursday. 'I'm watching the practice and I'm like 'This guy's not struggling at all! You guys are crazy!'
'He literally couldn't wait. He was taking reps at center, left guard, right guard. He was taking reps from people.'
Zabel was so eager to show NFL scouts, and Hutchinson, he jumped into every rep. He cut in front of teammates at multiple spots in drills. He manhandled defensive players from the higher, Power-5 programs.
Macdonald said he didn't see Zabel lose a pass-rush rep all that week.
'Being there first hand at the Senior Bowl and watching him steal reps from people,' Schneider said nearly four months later, 'we were standing there like 'Woah, this guy!'
'Like he said, chip on his shoulder and ready to let it rip. He was into it. He was competing his tail off, and it was really impressive to see first-hand when you're right there.'
Hutchinson wanted to see and know more. So he met with Zabel again a month later, at the league's annual scouting combine in Indianapolis.
Hutchinson came away from the Senior Bowl and combine convinced Zabel was the best interior lineman in this draft class. So did Seahawks vice president for player personnel Trent Kirchner and Kirk Parrish, the team's senior college scouting coordinator.
Since guard and center are Seattle's positions with the most pressing needs, Hutchinson backed Kirchner and Parrish in recommending Schneider and Macdonald draft Zabel.
Schneider, Macdonald and their staffs formed a top four of interior linemen they wanted in this draft.
Zabel was the clear number one. They weren't about to defy the instincts and knowledge of their in-house, Hall-of-Fame guard.
Last week, they didn't. They made Zabel the first player from a lower college division the Seahawks drafted in round one since 1999 (Lamar King, from Division-II Saginaw Valley State).
Five days later, Zabel still couldn't believe it.
The News Tribune asked the mustachioed 23-year-old from Pierre, South Dakota, when it first became real to him that he could actually get drafted into the NFL.
'Probably Thursday night when I got that call from a Washington area code,' he said, without hint of a smile. 'That's when it kind of became real.
'A surreal moment that this was going to be a possibility.'
He used 'surreal' three times in his first five minutes of talking about the Seahawks drafting him.
And about Hutchinson being the reason why.
In the week since the Seahawks drafted Zabel, Hutchinson has gone from evaluator to mentor for the rookie half his age.
They are so tight, the rookie already calls the legend by his nickname.
'Yeah, 'Hutch' has been awesome throughout this experience,' Zabel said. 'He interviewed me down at the Senior Bowl, and he interviewed me at the combine. He's been a real mentor this past week.
'And being able to ask him all the questions that a rookie or a new guy has has been unbelievable. I'm super grateful for him.'
There is a decent chance the Seahawks will have teammates from the 2023 North Dakota State Bison starting side by side on their remade line within their remodeled offense in 2025.
Coaches and GMs rarely go on about a second-year undrafted free agent at the length Macdonald and Schneider have talked this offseason about Jalen Sundell.
Sundell was Zabel's do-it-all teammate at NDSU, until the Seahawks signed Sundell as a rookie free agent in July of 2024. After only a month with the team, Sundell was one of two undrafted rookies to make Seattle's team out of training camp last summer (the other was kick returner Dee Williams, who was waived late in the season, after fumbling).
Sundell was a center in preseason games last summer. He was also a backup guard, tackle and center in an offensive line system of since-fired coach Scott Huff that was a mix of schemes. The 2024 Seahawks O-linemen pulled. They trap blocked. They man blocked. They did some inside zone.
They were jacks of most trades, masters of none.
The Seahawks' running game went mostly nowhere: 28th in the NFL in rushing yards per game, 29th in rushing attempts.
Huff and one-year college offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb are gone. In are veteran NFL offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, 1990s Super Bowl-champion line coach and former coordinator Rick Dennison and 20-year NFL line coach John Benton. Their system is clear and singular: Wide, outside-zone blocking.
Macdonald and Schneider keep talking how this change to a system that demands lateral quickness off the ball and athleticism in getting to zones in run blocking instead of taking on and driving back the man nearest him fits Sundell far better than last year's scheme. It's why Zabel is on this team, too.
Seahawks coaches believe Sundell could fit well in this new scheme at center. Expect him to challenge Olu Oluwatimi for the starting job in training camp this summer. Oluwatimi was Seattle's second-day draft pick in 2023. He started the latter half of the 2024 because veteran Connor Williams abruptly retired last October.
Though he won't have him next to him in rookie minicamp Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend, Zabel is thankful he will have one of his best friends to show him around Seattle and the Seahawks' offensive line his rookie season.
'I think Jalen's a master of his craft,' Zabel said. 'I was fortunate enough to room with him (at NDSU). He was kind of a big brother to me throughout college.
'What an awesome deal that I was able to join him here at the Seahawks. He's taught me a lot of life lessons. And (I'm) super excited to hopefully learn some more from him here.'
What were some of those life lessons Sundell taught him?
'How to clean up after yourself,' Zabel said, with a grin under that mustache. 'Probably how to do laundry.
'He's one of my good buddies, for sure.'