{"id":61847,"date":"2025-05-19T08:22:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T08:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/61847\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T08:22:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T08:22:11","slug":"nasty-arm-nfl-draft-first-rounder-pitches-at-90mph-and-could-have-been-mlb-star-or-farmer-in-different-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/61847\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Nasty arm’ – NFL Draft first-rounder pitches at 90mph and could have been MLB star or FARMER in different career"},"content":{"rendered":"

AN NFL first-round pick could’ve had two very different lives.<\/p>\n

A player taken in the first round of last month’s 2025 NFL Draft could’ve been an MLB<\/a> star or another shock occupation, and that’s being a farmer.<\/p>\n

\"NDSU<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft last monthCredit: Getty\"Man<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Zabel spent a lot of time working on his family’s farm in South Dakota and started his own last yearCredit: ESPN<\/p>\n

The Seattle Seahawks<\/a> were on the clock with the No. 18 overall pick in the NFL Draft<\/a> and could’ve gone in numerous directions.<\/p>\n

They elected to draft North Dakota State University product offensive lineman Grey Zabel to support new quarterback Sam Darnold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Zabel could’ve gone down two different routes in life before making his final decision to look to become an NFL player.<\/p>\n

Zabel has always possessed athleticism for his 6-foot-6 frame, and the trait goes back to his high school days as a three-sport athlete.<\/p>\n

In his small town of Pierre, Zabel played football, basketball, and baseball.<\/p>\n

But Zabel’s baseball skills contested his football skills.<\/p>\n

The youngster was a left-handed pitcher and posted a 0.68 ERA while racking up 51 strikeouts in 31 innings.<\/p>\n

And per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Zabel threw in the low-90s.<\/p>\n

But Zabel chose to commit to North Dakota State in Fargo to play college football<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n

He received NIL (name, likeness, and image) deals to transfer out of NDSU before his senior year, but he turned those down to stick around.<\/p>\n

NFL second-round pick wakes up unemployed as $3.4m career hits new low after being cut by UFL team<\/p>\n

Zabel wasn’t always thinking about football: He achieved his dream in 2024 by leasing 245 acres of land and starting his own farm.<\/p>\n

He had spent a lot of time on his family’s farm growing up.<\/p>\n

Zabrel grows corn, soybeans, and other crops.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarming and football have a lot in common,” Zabel told ESPN in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“You plant a seed in the dirt in the spring and tend to it and try to get it as much as you can to grow a great crop in the fall, and football is the same exact way.<\/p>\n

\"Seattle<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Zabel pictured at the Seahawks’ training facility on May 1Credit: Kevin Clark – The Seattle Times<\/p>\n

“You work all offseason to get your body strong, healthy, and then you go reap the benefits in the fall.”<\/p>\n

Still, Zabel couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be an NFL first-round pick after his stellar senior campaign with the Bison.<\/p>\n

He finished his decorated college career by helping the NCAA<\/a> team win the FCS national championship with a 16-0 season.<\/p>\n

The Seahawks must’ve taken a fond liking to Zabel as he’s the highest-drafted guard the franchise has taken since 2001.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AN NFL first-round pick could’ve had two very different lives. A player taken in the first round of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[19892,7,6,15,238,237,261,2635,578],"class_list":{"0":"post-61847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-farming","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-seahawks","13":"tag-seattle","14":"tag-seattle-seahawks","15":"tag-seattleseahawks","16":"tag-section-sportamerican-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114533534558821802","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}