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The Seattle Seahawks will enter the 2025 NFL season with two new starters on their offensive line, and they’re from the same school.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald told reporters after Thursday’s practice that the starters for next week’s season opener against the San Francisco 49ers will be as follows: Charles Cross (LT), Grey Zabel (LG), Jalen Sundell (C), Anthony Bradford (RG), and Abe Lucas (RT). One thing to pay attention to is how he phrased Sundell as the starting center.
“Jalen, right now, is our starting center,” Macdonald said.
Sundell and Olu Oluwatimi were in competition for the starting job all offseason, with Oluwatimi seemingly in pole position to get the nod as recently as early August. A back injury cost Oluwatimi several practices and he didn’t play any preseason snaps, and Sundell seized his opportunity in training camp and his preseason outings against the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders. From Macdonald’s phrasing, it sounds like the door isn’t closed on Oluwatimi starting down the line in the event Sundell struggles.
If you’re keeping score, Sundell is the seventh different opening day starting center for the Seahawks in as many seasons, following in the footsteps of Justin Britt (2019), Ethan Pocic (2020), Kyle Fuller (2021), Austin Blythe (2022), Evan Brown (2023), and Connor Williams (2024).
This is, of course, a young but very inexpensive offensive line. All five starters are on rookie contracts, although Cross and Lucas are clearly two extension candidates coming up soon.
Zabel and Sundell were teammates at North Dakota State and now they’re teammates on the Seahawks offensive line. Cross and Lucas have been Seattle’s top tackles since they were drafted together in 2022, while Bradford is entering his third season and looking to bounce back from a tough 2024.
Everyone but Cross played in preseason and the unit looked impressive over their four possessions together. We’ll see if the promise of the preseason turns into what Seahawks fans have yearned for in the regular season.
