Those who want to see the Seattle Seahawks invest more in the guard position must be very happy with what has happened over the last two years.
The Seahawks may have started the arms race with the 49ers leading the NFC West
Last year, the Seahawks used their first-round pick on left guard Gray Zabel, a move that proved important in helping them win the Super Bowl title.
And on Tuesday, Seattle acquired six-time All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts for a 2027 third-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick, pending a medical.
All of a sudden, Seattle has one of the elite guard combinations in the league.
But will both fill the position when Nelson debuts with the Seahawks? Seattle Sports Brock and Salk discussed how Nelson fits on the offensive line shortly after initial reports of the trade emerged.
Nelson has played exclusively as a left guard in 136 games during his nine-year NFL career, with the exception of eight snaps played as a left tackle in 2020. Zabel has played in all 27 games, including the playoffs, as Seattle’s left guard since he was drafted.
The natural move would seemingly be to move one of the players to right guard in place of Anthony Bradford, but a complicating factor is that left tackle Charles Cross is reportedly set to miss time with a sprained ankle suffered in Sunday’s win over the Chiefs.
Zabel played all over the line during his college years at North Dakota State, including starting all 16 games at left tackle in his final season in 2024. So, could Zabel move to left tackle while Cross is out? Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard doesn’t believe that will be the case.
“You’re going to play Josh Jones at left tackle,” Huard said of Seattle’s veteran swing tackle. “He was great for you last year and I think he fits in very comfortably. You feel very comfortable with him as a left tackle.”
As for who would move to right guard between Nelson and Zabel, Huard thinks it’s more likely that Zabel will move to right guard and Bradford will be left out of the starting lineup. Zabel made 17 starts on the right side of the line while in college, although all were at right tackle.
“I think he would be the most natural athlete to fill in and play the right guard role, but that would be completely determined by them and how they feel,” Huard said.
Listen to the full conversation at this link or in this story’s audio player. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
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