Full press conference: Grey Zabel introduced as Seattle Seahawk
KING 5 Seattle
[{'start': '0.039', 'end': '0.140', 'text': "Uh, whether it's all the scouts, uh, the coaches, uh, the training staff, um, the medical group. Um, You know, Dave PR social media. Um, Stu and his group EK EK and his group for putting this coming weekend on which we're having, you know, 72, uh, people, uh, players involved in this, uh, in this mini camp and, uh, you know, drafted players, uh, rookie free agents and then try out players, uh, but just very, very appreciative of everybody's efforts and, uh, everything that went into the whole draft, um, and, uh. Yeah, you know, uh, Ted Thompson would say welcome to Green Bay, God rest his soul. Ted Thompson was a gentleman that drafted, uh, Steve Hutchinson. And uh I was blessed enough to work for him here the year we drafted Hutch and then in in Green Bay for a number of years but it's a beautiful day here in in uh in Seattle and he would call it a Chamber of Commerce day here. So, uh, pretty awesome, beautiful day here and, uh, we're here to celebrate, um, Gray Zabel. So on behalf of, uh, Jody Allen, uh, Burt, uh, Mike and his staff, um. Yeah, uh, I know you folks are working or are watching, right, um, Mark and Tanya or Tanna, sorry, T, and, um, I just wanna let your parents know that you're in great hands with the people in this building, and, um, we're gonna do whatever we can to help you be a successful player and, uh, to help us be a world championship team. So, uh, with that. Congratulations, ma'am. Welcome. Great, what has the last week been like for you from draft to now? Uh, quick, surreal, um, whirlwind of emotions, super fun, uh, anything you could possibly think of. I mean, it's a lifelong dream to be able to say you got drafted, let alone be drafted to the Seattle Seahawks. So, um, -- what a surreal experience this past week has been -- sink -- in or when did it sink -- in. Still hasn't sunk in yet. I gotta wake up and pinch myself every single morning that, uh, I get to play for the Seattle Seahawks and um it probably never will sink in. Have you had conversations with Hutch since I was. Yeah. Yeah, um, Hutch has been awesome throughout this um kind of experience. I mean, uh, he interviewed me down at the senior Bowl, he interviewed me at the combine, um, he's been a, a real mentor this past week, um, and being able to ask him kind of all the questions that a rookie or a new guy has has been unbelievable and, uh, super grateful for him, um. Great quarterbacks, receivers get a lot of publicity. Are you a little surprised by how a fan base is offensive line here? Yeah, a little bit yeah, like you said, are normally the super cool that is. Um, bought into me and kinda had my back through this and it's been awesome and super excited for this fall. When you were doing weight training in the morning and captain's practices all those years, at what point did this become a possibility to you, a realistic possibility? Probably Thursday night when I got that call from a Washington area code, uh, that's that's when it became kind of real and surreal moment, uh, that this was gonna be a possibility. What's something that Jalen Sandell taught you in college, uh, and your time together? Yeah, I think Jaylen's a master of his craft. I mean, I was fortunate enough to room with him. Um, he was kind of a big brother to me throughout college and what an awesome, uh, deal that I was able to join him here at the Seahawks. So, uh, he's taught me a lot of lifelong lessons and super excited to hopefully learn some more from him here. What were some of the lifelong lessons he taught you? Um, how to clean up after yourself, um, probably how to do laundry, uh. Yeah, he, he, he's one of my good buddies for sure. -- What did you learn about yourself through this -- process? Um, just continue to bet on yourself, um, outwork everybody and kind of have that chip on the shoulder mentality throughout the entire process, uh. Just hard work and dedication to a craft can take you a long ways. You see a lot of uh clips of people screaming and yelling on sidelines, but what is, what is leadership look like in an offensive line room? Um, I would say sweat equity is number one. Like you never want to ask somebody to do something you aren't willing to do or have done. So I think in the offensive line room sweat equity plays a huge role in leadership and understanding you gotta, uh, put in the work, put in the time, um, to be able to lead and then understanding that, um, you're blocking for somebody else, you're protecting somebody else, and the highest level you can do that at is making sure nobody touches the other guy. So I think in the offensive line room it's a unique, um. Unique kind of trait to have being a leader there um but there's there's some great ones out there for sure. John, you obviously drafted the football player first and foremost, but how big of a factor was it to add the kind of personality that Gray has to that offensive line room? Yeah, great question, uh. I think really the uh the thing that really stood out about Gray personally besides what Kirk and Trent and You know, the guys that went into the school, uh, and you know what we're saying about him was just being there firsthand at the, at the, uh, senior bowl and watching them steal reps from people we were standing there like, well this guy's funny story, uh, Hutch and and Trent right when we got down there were like, you know, this gentleman's, this guy's really struggling with this they're talking about a different player and like this guy's really struggling with his confidence. I thought they were talking about Gray and I'm watching the practice. I'm like, this guy's not struggling with his confidence at all. I'm like, you guys are crazy. But uh. He was literally like uh he couldn't wait he was taking reps at center left guard, right guard he was like taking reps from people and you stand right there and and uh. Yeah, I think just seeing that competitor in the, in the, the want to and the uh the the uh. Yeah, just like I'm, I, I, I'm here to, like you said, chip on his shoulder and let it ready to let it rip, and he, he was, he was into it. He's competing his tail off and it was really impressive to see firsthand when you're right there. John, I know we've asked you a lot about the offensive line in the offseason, but now you're kind of through the draft and the free agency process, how do you feel about the whole group as a whole kind of now that you're gonna get on the field now? Yeah, we like it. We like it a lot. It's gonna be highly, highly competitive. You know, um, We had a group of of of 4 guys thank God, um, God willing Gray was at the top of it and, uh, it felt that way but when we came out of the, when we came out of the combine we felt, you know, fairly confident that we'd be able to get, uh, one of those 4 guys. Um, And it, it things just fell that way. John, what was the game or the year or how did, how did Greg get on your radar? When did you really start watching? Uh, with, with Kirk and, and Trent, you know, coming back from the school and, you know, they have a, they have a, they have a great reputation there. I think the like uh Trent was telling me this morning that. Last 5 years and I think they're the number of snaps, um, is like the North Dakota states like 25th or 26th of, of, of, uh, all the schools, you know, in the National Football League and, uh, so it's just a. These guys come out of there like very well coached. They're highly competitive. They're smart, and um there's a lot of want to there and that's, that's, uh, those are great traits. Speaking of your coach Grey, uh, he mentioned that when you're locked in on the field, you like to talk a little bit to your opponents. Is uh is that true? Uh, a little bit, um. I mean offensive line you can't score you can't catch a pass, you can't do any of that. So um when you block a guy extremely well sometimes you gotta let him know and I think that's the fun and joy of playing offensive line, um, but at the same time you gotta stay humble in your ability. Great, what do you think tomorrow will be like for you when you do get on the field for the first time wearing at least an NFL jersey? It's, it's gonna be surreal, um, to, to wear the CIA logo on your chest has has been kind of a dream. Um, super excited anytime you get a tie that cleats up and hit the grass, you gotta be grateful. Um, it's a get to mentality and not have to mentality, so I get to go practice tomorrow, um, and show up to one of the best jobs you could possibly have. I think you're the first from Riggs High School and appear to be in the NFL or drafted in the NFL, I should say. What's that mean to you? What have you heard back from them and the people back there and they're excited about this? Yeah, just the community sport has been unbelievable. Uh, Pier is a is a sports town, a sports community, um, super grateful for the support that they've given me throughout this process. I mean, um, we had a little draft party that Friday night and there was probably 700 or so people there showing up. So, um, being able to do this for the community, for the kids there, um, is a, is a cool experience. -- Bush -- light left in here? There there might be a few but not a lot. Are you willing to switch to Rainier? Just kind of depends. I haven't tried it yet. I know that's a, a huge brand up here in the Pacific Northwest, so, um, -- hopefully if we have good OTAs we can maybe try a -- few. Have, have you gotten to me. Have you got to meet or know any of the other draft picks or anybody like that, so Jalen and Elijah played with him at the senior Bowl, two unbelievably talented human beings and super competitive well and super excited to play with them. I'm sure you're. Excited to block for any of the quarterbacks on this stuff, but is it kind of exciting to be drafted with another quarterback to kind of go through this rookie camp and kind of develop -- alongside Jalen -- to learn the offense with him, um, if I have any questions or kind of concerns with anything to have a guy to be able to bounce it off of and understand the offense like I said, is going to be super important and it's gonna be, it's gonna be super impactful for our careers moving forward. How did you decide on? Um, well, they, that was kind of the equipment staff's idea, and I, I had to ask Hutch if it was OK to wear it, and he was, he was all for it and super excited for it, so I mean it's no better number to wear in Seattle history, so brothers pretty cool. It was [ __ ]. What was it like being in the building on Saturday and giving the call to Mason? He was really pumped about it, so how was it from your perspective? Uh, my heart was beating through my chest. I can hardly remember what I said. Uh, what a cool experience and I mean I, I have to thank, uh, Mr. Schneider here for letting me do that, um, but when I'm standing in the back of the kind of the draft room with Coach McDaniel and and he calls me up to make a draft call it, uh. I was a little nervous, let's say that. -- I -- thought it was a prank call. Did you know that? How the weekend went with prank calls and stuff, I probably would have thought the same exact thing but um yeah it was it was a cool deal. Is there a part of your game that you think maybe people don't know about? Maybe it's underestimated that you're, you're something you worked on, you're proud of. Um, And probably just mentality, uh, that's the thing I kinda hang my hat on is is protecting the quarterback and moving the line of scrimmage and you can't really measure that with, um, a number of some sort. Um, it's all kind of a mindset, so, um, I would say that's the one thing that, um, you probably can't measure about my game. Anything else? Have you met Robbie Yates yet? I haven't, but he's got a hell of a mustache. That's Rob Hughes, we're gonna have to have a contest. All right, thank you. Good job."}]