You put on the tape. Immediately you know you’ve found someone interesting. He’s sprinting up to the second level and hammering opponents. He’s aggressive. He combo-blocks efficiently. He’s shoving the line to create running lanes. He looks a lot like Will Fries on tape. It’s exciting to watch and you know this player fits a team running a lot of outside zone.
This isn’t Grey Zabel or any other player projected to go in round one. It’s a right tackle from Connecticut who will need to kick inside to guard, just as Fries did. The name of the player is Chase Lundt. He has a zone blocking grade (88.2) that is better than Armand Membou’s.
There’s every chance he will be on Seattle’s radar.
See for yourself:
Some people are going to hate what I’m about to write. The Seahawks might wait to draft for their offensive line. And I think it might be the best thing to do.
There’s almost a desperation within the fan base to see a big move to fix the interior O-line. I understand that. It’s important, though, to view the draft not through the lens of one pick at #18. It’s about your collection of picks and maximising your ability to improve your roster.
It might mean selecting players later on who expertly fit the zone blocking system. It might mean sticking to best player available at #18 and going in a different direction with your first pick. Perhaps even your second and third pick too.
Think of it like this. If you are Klint Kubiak, John Benton and the rest of the staff — you might think you can turn Chase Lundt above into a similar level of performer as Grey Zabel. I’m not predicting that, just imagining this as a scenario.
Fans would tear their hair out through the first two or three rounds. However, you could add a dynamic defensive player at #18 — Malaki Starks, Maxwell Hairston and Donovan Ezeiruaku all seem like viable options. I don’t think there’s any chance of Colston Loveland lasting to #18 but others do. You can still invest in a top tight end (Elijah Arroyo) or receiver in round two. You can maybe bring in Bradyn Swinson if he’s available. If you want to draft a quarterback early you can. There are all sorts of best player available options.
You could seriously elevate Seattle’s roster with your top picks. But you wouldn’t have addressed your most pressing need. You’d be relying on scheme fit and the depth available to max out the totality of your draft class. The thing is, the zone-blocking depth in this draft is good and at its strongest beyond the first two rounds.
The Seahawks are going to draft for their scheme. The players they target will either have good zone blocking tape and/or the profile suited to the system.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to project a player like Lundt as being as likely as anyone to become a great interior zone blocker. He’s not alone though. Here are the zone blockers in the draft with a PFF grade above 80:
Charles Grant — 93.0
Willie Lampkin — 90.4
Wyatt Milum — 90.0
Chase Lundt — 88.2
Armand Membou — 87.4
Jack Nelson — 86.4
Logan Brown — 85.2
Clay Webb — 84.9
Grey Zabel —- 84.8
Cam Williams — 84.0
Kelvin Banks Jr — 81.5
Hollin Pierce — 81.5
Marcus Mbow — 81.3
Connor Colby — 81.3
Bryce Cabeldue — 81.0
Of this list only three players — Membou, Zabel and Banks Jr — are projected to go in the first round. Membou will be long gone by Seattle’s pick. I wouldn’t rule it out but I’m not convinced they’d draft Banks Jr at #18 to move him inside.
Ultimately they need to decide whether Zabel is that much better than the options available on day two or three, where they have a ton of picks, to shirk a best player available approach in round one. Unless of course they view Zabel as the best player when they pick.
This is always how you have to view a draft. It’s about looking at combo picks and determining what is best. Is it better to take Starks at #18 if he’s available and take Lundt in round four? Or Zabel in round one and whatever defensive player would be available at #137?
Let me be clear — I think there’s a chance they will view Zabel as best player available at #18. Yet it’s no guarantee. If they have other players graded higher, perhaps considerably so, they might consider waiting on the O-line.
That will be unpalatable to many. It is, however, a possibility. For at least the last three drafts the Seahawks have stuck to their board and picked best player available early. It’s hard to imagine that changing.
We should also consider the possibility of Zabel not being available. Daniel Jeremiah had him going 16th to Arizona in his latest mock. The Colts at #14 might be sniffing around too, or the Bengals at #17.
Going back to the importance of ‘fit’ in zone — look at Seattle’s free agency so far. They only made one big move, to try and get the one player who was not only a tremendous athlete but had fantastic zone-blocking tape from 2024. When they missed out on Will Fries, they didn’t pivot to other free agents.
It speaks to a desire to only add specific scheme-fit types.
Fries ticked the tape, fit and physical profile boxes. A lot of the names above tick those same boxes.
The Seahawks are using an official-30 visit on Kansas tackle Bryce Cabeldue (81.0) who had an outstanding BIG-12 pro-day. It wouldn’t be a surprise if his team mate Logan Brown (85.2) also comes in — especially given his departure from Wisconsin after hitting a team mate.
Charles Grant’s 93.0 grade might’ve come at the FCS level but he has attractive transferable traits. He could be an excellent developmental prospect with the tools to emerge as a top-level zone-blocker.
Marcus Mbow (81.3) could be seen as a center prospect worthy of one of their two second round picks. Jared Wilson (78.9) graded just outside the 80-range and could be another center option on day two.
Wyatt Milum (90.0) had a disappointing Senior Bowl but he looked a lot sharper at his pro-day. There’s potential there and again, his grading is excellent. Jack Nelson (86.4) is highly underrated with multi-position flexibility. He could go in the same range as Cam Williams (84.0) whose technique at tackle was disastrous at Texas but he could kick inside and excel.
Clay Webb (84.9), Hollins Pierce (81.5) and Connor Colby (81.3) could all be day three fliers. As fun as Willie Lampkin’s (90.4) tape is I’m not sure anyone will draft a 5-10, 270lbs center or guard.
Then there’s Lundt (88.2), who I’ve given a round three grade but anticipate he’ll be available later on.
It’s a real shame the Iowa duo of Gennings Dunker (92.3) and Logan Jones (84.5) opted not to declare.
If the Seahawks draft a position that isn’t the offensive line at #18 and decide they’ll get better value tapping into the scheme fits later on, there will be panic. I don’t think there should be. With a lot of the top zone-blockers you can clearly see on tape how they would fit in Kubiak’s system and potentially excel.
I do think it could come down to Zabel, Starks, Hairston and Ezeiruaku at pick #18, plus any unexpected fallers like Loveland. The Seahawks arranging a visit with Nick Emmanwori speaks to a level of intrigue there too. I’m not sure the other linemen, barring an unpredictable fall for Membou, will come into contention.
A final point — the more I’ve studied Starks and Hairston over the last few days, the more exciting they are. There is a lot of upside potential here, more so than some of the other names being projected to go early. Starks, Zabel, Ezeiruaku and Hairston are among the best 15 players in this draft class for me.
