RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks will lean heavily on their new offensive staff to develop a young offensive line that has struggled in recent years, but the process that led to using the No. 18 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on guard Grey Zabel included an assist from someone who has been on the payroll for years: Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson.

The 17th pick by Seattle in 2001, Hutchinson consults with his old team about offensive line prospects. He met with Zabel multiple times during the pre-draft process and spoke highly of the person and the competitor Seattle could be acquiring.

Zabel’s connection with Hutchinson contributed to the former North Dakota State left tackle — now the Seahawks’ highest-drafted interior O-lineman since Hutchinson — keeping his eye on Seattle as a potential landing spot.

“What an honor it was being able to talk to him through that process,” Zabel said Thursday night on a conference call from his draft party in Pierre, S.D. “It was super cool to experience that. I interviewed with him at the combine, and I knew that maybe this was a possibility, and I was holding my breath until pick 18.”

Many Seahawks fans were likely holding their breath, too. Zabel, the No. 32 prospect and top-ranked center in Dane Brugler’s draft guide for The Athletic, was often mocked to the Seahawks ahead of the draft. When we solicited mock drafts from readers earlier this month, Zabel was the second-most-popular submission and the most popular first-round selection. He was viewed as an example of a quality prospect at a position of urgent need.

The Seahawks saw it the same way.

“Hutch loves him; everybody loves this guy,” general manager John Schneider said Thursday night. “He’s just buttoned-up, smart, tough, reliable. Our kind of guy.”

Zabel, who will begin as a guard, was the team’s highest-rated interior offensive lineman, Schneider said. Seattle wasn’t sure when interior players would start to come off the board, and he said the draft room got a little nervous when the Dallas Cowboys selected Alabama guard Tyler Booker with the 12th pick. Schneider said Seattle discussed trading back, but “things did not come to fruition.”

“We felt pretty good about if we did trade back, there was going to be a couple guys there we’d be able to go to,” Schneider said. “But (Zabel) was No. 1, so it was going to have to be a cool deal for us. He ended up just being the guy.”

Zabel was an All-American tackle in college who made a few starts at both guard spots. He was the emergency center but took only a handful of snaps there before the Senior Bowl, where he was lined up at multiple positions and was one of the best players on the field, taking more reps than what was required to showcase his talent.

“He was stealing reps,” Schneider said. “It was pretty cool. He stood out.”

Seattle has a history of valuing Senior Bowl standouts — former Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy used to work for Schneider — and the team continued that pattern Thursday. Zabel was voted the practice player of the week at any position in Mobile, Ala., despite coming from the FCS-level Bison.

“I think it just showed teams the versatility and showed teams, at the end of the day, you’re playing football; everyone puts on their shoulder pads the same way, everyone wears a helmet,” Zabel said. “Being able to show people it doesn’t matter what level you come from, if you’re good enough, they’re going to find you. I was super, super excited to go down and get invited to the Senior Bowl and show off my skills.”

Zabel said his favorite play call is a power run into the gap between the center and the guard. “It’s a mentality play,” he said, talking up the value of being able to run the ball even though the defense is expecting it. Under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, the Seahawks are transitioning to a run scheme that is less about slamming it up the gut and more about linemen firing off the ball, using their athleticism and getting to the edge.

Zabel feels that style fits his game, too.

“I love outside zone,” Zabel said. “Get to be a big athlete and run out in space, really show your athleticism along the line of scrimmage. We started running a little bit more outside zone at North Dakota State this year.

“We just talked about the importance of understanding the defense and stop beating your head against the wall trying to run A-gap power when they’re stacking the box. Let’s go get to the edge, let’s use our athleticism and let’s go play ball and let our running backs make us right. Outside zone is a really fun scheme to run, and I’m super excited the Seahawks are diving into that.”

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald cautioned against reading too much into the potential scheme fit. The Seahawks were simply sold on Zabel because he’s a tough, athletic, talented blocker.

“This guy is a great pass protector,” Macdonald said. “He can hit his targets on the move. He’s really athletic. He’s tough. He finishes blocks, which is one of my favorite things about him. In that way, he’s going to fit in great.”

Zabel will reunite in Seattle with his college teammate and mentor Jalen Sundell, who made the team as an undrafted free agent last season. Zabel said it will be “awesome” to have a familiar face in the building when he arrives in Seattle (he also said he got to know right tackle Abe Lucas from working out together this offseason). Seattle’s other potential guards are 2023 fourth-round pick Anthony Bradford, 2024 third-rounder Christian Haynes and 2024 sixth-rounder Sataoa Laumea.

Zabel will compete with them for one of the two starting spots.

“We’re really excited about the guys we have as well, and they’re going to have ample opportunity to show what they can do,” Macdonald said, “and (we’re) really confident that unit is going to be able to jell and really surprise some people this year.”

Seattle holds pick Nos. 50, 52, 82 and 92 entering Friday night. Schneider is excited about the freedom to either maneuver in the second and third rounds — “If we can find people who want to move around; it was pretty quiet today,” he said — or stock up on talented prospects.

“It’s going to be great,” the GM said. “We feel like we’re going to be able to impact our team with our kind of guys, and with respect to all the guys that are here right now, bring in people to work with them, compete with them and continue down that path of competing every day and adding as much depth as we possibly can.”

(Photo of Grey Zabel, in a green helmet: Vasha Hunt / Imagn Images)