{"id":861744,"date":"2026-04-08T22:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861744\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:54:23","slug":"top-draft-pick-wins-offensive-rookie-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/861744\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Draft Pick Wins Offensive Rookie of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seattle Seahawks are\u00a0coming off just their second Super Bowl-winning season<\/a>\u00a0in franchise history and first since the 2013-14 campaign.<\/p>\n

Heading into the season, the Seahawks’ roster was given little credit for its status as a rising contender. They shocked the entire league and will enter 2026 as\u00a0the likely favorite to repeat<\/a>\u00a0as champions.<\/p>\n

With the 2025 season far in the rearview mirror, it’s time to take a look at some of the key players who contributed to the Super Bowl LX victory, as recognized with team awards. This week, we will hand out eight awards that help summarize the Seahawks’ outstanding campaign.<\/p>\n

Awards List (in order of release)\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a>Most Improved Player<\/a>\u00a0(MIP)Comeback Player of the Year<\/a>\u00a0(CPOY)Special Teams Player of the Year<\/a>\u00a0(STPOY)Defensive Rookie of the Year<\/a> (DROY)Offensive Rookie of the Year (OROY)Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY)Offensive Player of the Year (OPOY)Most Valuable Player (MVP)Offensive Rookie of the YearLG Grey Zabel\"Seattle<\/p>\n

Sep 14, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Seattle Seahawks guard Grey Zabel (76) at the line of scrimmage against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Seahawks used the 18th overall pick on Zabel, intending to vastly improve their offensive line. Seattle had struggled to build a quality offensive front for nearly a decade, and Zabel quickly proved he would be part of the solution.<\/p>\n

Zabel slotted in at left guard immediately, starting all 20 games of the Seahawks’ regular season and postseason. He barely missed any snaps, also, playing 1,051 on the season (99%), proving he can potentially be an ironman for the Seahawks for years to come.<\/p>\n

Seattle’s run game averaged 123.3 yards per game, which ranked 11th in the league. The Seahawks attempted the fourth-most rushing attempts in the NFL (507), helping pace the offense. Zabel frequently paved paths for Seahawks running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.<\/p>\n

Sam Darnold was sacked only 27 times after being brought down 48 times the year prior with the Minnesota Vikings. Finally, after having a bottom-tier offensive line for too long, Zabel was a major piece of the improved unit.<\/p>\n

If Zabel keeps improving, the Seahawks could soon have one of the best offensive lines in the league with left tackle Charles Cross and right tackle Abraham Lucas locked down for multiple seasons.<\/p>\n

Honorable mentionWR Tory Horton\"Seattle<\/p>\n

Sep 25, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tory Horton (15) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Horton’s season was cut short after suffering a shin\/groin injury in Week 9 of the season, but he was an early contributor for the Seahawks which makes him worth mentioning here. <\/p>\n

Before his injury, Horton played in eight games and totaled 13 catches for 161 yards and five touchdowns. He also had a 95-yard punt return touchdown in Week 3. If he stays healthy, Horton will be a big piece on offense and special teams moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Enjoy free coverage of the Super Bowl champions from Seattle Seahawks On SI<\/a>\u00a0\u2014<\/p>\n

Sign Up For the Seahawks Daily Digest – OnSI\u2019s Free Seattle Seahawks Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Seattle Seahawks are\u00a0coming off just their second Super Bowl-winning season\u00a0in franchise history and first since the 2013-14…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[7,6,238,237,261,2635],"class_list":{"0":"post-861744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-seahawks","11":"tag-seattle","12":"tag-seattle-seahawks","13":"tag-seattleseahawks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861744","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=861744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}