Usually the week after the Super Bowl, there isn’t much football content to cover. You can only squeeze so much juice out of a 40-22 blowout in the big game. But here in Pierre, the major topic of discussion centers around the upcoming NFL draft. No, it’s not chatter about who the Vikings should draft 24th overall, or if they should trade up to get a certain player. The talk in Pierre is about one of its own, Grey Zabel, who could potentially be the first Pierre native to play in the National Football League. Not only could Zabel be the first pro from Pierre, he could very well hear his name called on the first night of the draft.
Mock drafts are kind of goofy, they’re put together by “experts” who look at all 32 teams general needs, and predict where each prospect will end up. There’s a few guys who are mainstays in the mock draft community like Mel Kiper and Field Yates. They’re known commodities, not because they’re right, but more because they’ve been doing it for what seems like forever. I say it’s goofy because they’re trying to predict landing spots for 224 players three months ahead of the actual draft, and they’re never right because so much can happen within the draft like teams trading picks, certain players getting drafted and teams changing their gameplan to accommodate their needs etc.. But mock drafts are necessary for people like me who love the game and will be counting the dimples on a football in about two months time.
Reading through this years many mock drafts, Grey Zabel is a name shows up quite frequently, and is even predicted to get picked in the first round in one of those. In NFL draft terms, getting picked in the first round gives you a certain elite status before you ever take an NFL snap. It means, out of every other player that the team took in the draft, you were the one that they just had to have. In Field Yates’ post-Super Bowl mock draft, he has Zabel going 28th overall to the Detroit Lions. Here was his player breakdown of Zabel, “Zabel had a great week at the Senior Bowl that had me thinking about cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in 2024. Like Mitchell did before the 2024 draft, Zabel dominated at a lower college level and then looked every bit the part against top competition at the all-star event. Zabel projects as an interior player in the NFL, which is the only part of the Lions’ offense that looks vulnerable on paper going into 2025. He is powerful, marries his quick feet with active hands in pass protection and is ridiculously tough — he plays like a Lion. Regarding the defense … yes, I thought about bringing in some help on that side of the ball here. Maybe Ohio State’s JT Tuimoloau or Boston College’s Donovan Ezeiruaku could fit opposite Aidan Hutchinson.”
ESPN’s Matt Miller has Zabel going later in the draft, but still high in the second round to the 49ers with the 43rd overall pick. Here was Miller’s breakdown of Zabel, “The 49ers could address the offensive line again to try to further fix that problem unit. Zabel has played tackle, guard and center, but I think he fits best inside, where his toughness and awareness could make him a star. He turned heads during Senior Bowl practices.”
The Senior Bowl is a “camp” of sorts put together by the Mobile Arts & Sports Association as another opportunity for NFL prospects to show off their skills in different drills and practices to NFL scouts. Often players from smaller schools that don’t play a power-five schedule will use the Senior Bowl to prove they can play at a high level against NFL talent, and those players often climb the draft boards after the Senior Bowl concludes. The general consensus from this year’s Senior Bowl was that Zabel blew a lot of people away, and jacked up his stock price.
Good offensive lineman that can play in the league for a long time don’t come around very often, so when teams need one and a guy like Zabel is there, they will pull the trigger. The offensive line is the unsung hero of the offensive unit. They don’t make the stat sheet, but they’re maybe the most important position on the field. It starts with them and ends with them, so it is not surprising that Zabel is being considered in the first round of the draft. Zabel meets all the physical criteria, standing at 6’6″ (league average 6’7″) but also weighing in at 305 lbs, just under the league average of 315. In today’s NFL, teams prefer you be light on your feet anyway. But Zabel also boasts a laundry list of accolades earned in his years at NDSU:
* 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl
* 2024 Associated Press FCS All-America First Team
* 2024 Stats Perform FCS All-America First Team
* 2024 AFCA FCS All-America First Team
* 2024 FCS Football Central All-America First Team
* 2024 Phil Steele FCS All-America First Team
* 2024 FCS ADA All-America Team
* 2020-21 HERO Sports Freshman All-America Team
* 2024 All-MVFC First Team
* 2024 MVFC Offensive Lineman of the Week (2x)
* 2022, 2023 MVFC Honor Roll
Not bad for a humble young man from Pierre, South Dakota who wanted to follow the family business and become a farmer. Zabel should enjoy a long, successful career as an NFL lineman with whatever team he ends up with. Offensive lineman, interestingly enough, have one of the longest average career lifespans amongst all positions (3.67 seasons), second only to kickers (4.4). And they’re free from ever being referred to as a “diva” like wide receivers, so lineman usually end up becoming beloved fixtures of their organizations, as I am sure Zabel will be too. Going in the first round not only brings the status, but also a healthy rookie contract. Even if Zabel doesn’t go in the first round, we should expect to hear his name called early on Day 2. The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft gets underway April 24th.
Comments