NFL Analysis
1/30/25
6 min read
Grey Zabel’s Senior Bowl Dominance Could Vault Him into the NFL Draft’s Top 50
The most valuable aspect of the Senior Bowl is the opportunity to see FCS and Group of Five prospects compete against NFL-caliber opponents. While most FCS prospects have dominant tape, the extreme talent gap, particularly on the line of scrimmage, makes their projection especially difficult.
No one has helped themselves more at the Senior Bowl than North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel. He’s been the best offensive lineman in Mobile through the first two days of practice and has excelled in the team drills and the one-on-ones. Zabel’s college tape is very clean, and at times dominant, but he’s looked better against future NFL starters than he did at North Dakota State. He hasn’t just verified his ability against better competition, he’s elevated his level of play. Zabel entered the week as a fringe top-50 pick, but has most likely played himself into the very top of the second round.
He played left tackle for North Dakota State this year, but will probably move inside in the NFL, and has significant experience at right tackle and both guard spots from previous seasons. In 2024 he allowed just seven pressures and one sack on 453 pass blocking snaps. Zabel split time between guard and center at the Senior Bowl and had equal success at both positions.
MEASUREMENTS
Zabel measured in at 6053/316 with 32.25-inch arms. His arm length is below average for any offensive line position, but would make him an extreme outlier at tackle. Here’s how his measurables stack up historically at tackle, guard, and center.
Tackle:
Guard:
Center:
PASS BLOCKING
Grey Zabel has been the star of the one-on-one drills through the first two practices. In 12 reps he didn’t have a single clean loss, and he only allowed late or marginal pressure on two plays. These drills are designed to showcase the pass rushers, since there’s no time limit and the blocker doesn’t have help in either direction, so an offensive lineman winning 50% of the reps is a relatively solid performance.
POWER
In the Senior Bowl one-on-ones, Zabel showed his textbook anchor technique and completely stonewalled any pass rusher that used a bull rush against him. As a taller offensive lineman, with a high-cut build and short arms, he doesn’t have the ideal build to resist power rushers. He doesn’t naturally have lower pad level than his opponent and his lack of length makes it difficult to cleanly lock defenders out and keep them off of his frame.
But Zabel makes up for these physical limitations with consistent technique, and this was on full display in Mobile:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
1. His two-hand strike is usually accurate, firing his hands inside the defender’s shoulder pads to center the impact of his punch and maximize control of the interaction. When his initial hand placement is slightly off, he’s comfortable resetting his punch as he moves his feet.
2. After securing contact, he locks his elbows and fully extends his arms at an upward trajectory. This establishes separation and raises the defender’s pad level, creating a leverage advantage and nullifying his opponents drive power.
3. He engages with a wide, square base to disperse the bull rush evenly along the horizontal plane.
4. He sinks his hips and bends his knees to redirect the power into the ground.
While he was rarely tested with anything resembling NFL power, his technique was also consistent on his college tape:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
Especially over the second half of the year, he started to use a snatch-trap technique to neutralize long-arms and bull rushes. When a defender leans into a power rush, this is an effective strategy to counter their lopsided weight displacement and pull the rug out:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
SPEED
Another thing that stood out on Zabel’s Senior Bowl tape was his ability to mirror defenders on a two-way go and prevent speed rushers from attacking the edge. He had one loss to Joshua Farmer on a speed-rip, but was otherwise very good in this phase:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
He did a great job of staying connected to his opponent through his recovery. After landing his punch, Zabel has the grip strength to survive a swipe or chop and maintain a point of contact as he mirrors the defender laterally. He used a variety of sets and hand techniques to keep his opponents guessing and off-balance.
Again, his college competition was nothing compared to what he faced at the Senior Bowl, but I was impressed by his hand usage and short-area mirror ability at North Dakota State:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
I don’t think he projects as an NFL tackle, however, as he often gave a short corner to speed rushers and allowed several pressures around the outside edge. His short arms and average pocket range (by NFL tackle standards) limit his margin for error when the defender gets a step on him:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
RUN BLOCKING
Zabel had some solid run blocking reps in the team drills, but for the most part, this is a key strength of his game that was not on display in Mobile. He’s a complete run blocker, who plays with an unparalleled competitive edge and fits any offensive scheme.
He’s powerful at the point of attack and creates serious movement on gap scheme runs. He seizes early control of blocks with a jarring initial strike, drives his legs through the sustain phase, and channels his initial momentum into dominant finishes. He’s outstanding on combo blocks and had multiple teach-tape gallop-climb reps in 2024:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
Zabel is also a very good zone blocker. He easily captures angles on reach blocks and backside cutoffs and can swivel his hips to seal the defender off:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025
He terrorized FCS linebackers and safeties at the second level. He’s explosive out of his stance and has plenty of range to connect to his target. Once he latches on, his aggressive demeanor takes over, and he’s often still driving his opponent when the film cuts off:
— James Foster (@JamesFosterNFL) January 30, 2025