Grey Zabel doesn’t mince words about the Rams. The Seahawks left guard, fresh off a rookie season that included three battles with Los Angeles — one of them an NFC Championship Game — hopped on Chris Long’s “Green Light” podcast and delivered the kind of quote that makes divisional rivalries worth the price of admission.
“I hate the Rams, but I love the Rams because it is mano a mano, best on best,” Zabel said.
That’s the sweet spot right there. Hate the jersey, love the fight. The NFC West has always been the NFL’s most beautifully dysfunctional family dinner, and Zabel — a first-round pick out of North Dakota State who started all season at left guard — got the full immersion course as a rookie. Three meetings with the Rams, including the conference title game that Seattle won on its way to a Super Bowl championship. Zabel called that championship matchup “a heavyweight boxing match,” and said the familiarity between the two staffs turned every snap into a chess match played at full speed.
“They know us well, we know them well,” Zabel said. “You’re just sitting there trying to win every single rep. When they’re calling out plays, we can tell what they’re doing based off the defensive scheme, it’s fun football.”
Then came the cold-water admission. Zabel identified Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner as his “kryptonite” last season — a notable concession from a rookie guard who otherwise held his own through a deep playoff run. Turner, a 2023 third-round pick out of Wake Forest, has been one of the NFL’s most productive interior disruptors since arriving in Los Angeles, and he apparently gave Zabel enough problems to earn a comic-book villain nickname.
The Rams, meanwhile, aren’t letting the rivalry cool off. They traded for Myles Garrett this offseason, adding the premier edge rusher in football to a defensive front that already gave Seattle fits. And then there’s the Aaron Donald question — the future Hall of Famer retired after the 2023 season but has never fully shut the door on a return. If Donald comes back alongside Garrett and Turner, the Rams’ defensive line would be, to put it in technical terms, a problem.
Zabel’s respect was genuine, even if wrapped in dislike. He framed the Rams as the standard — the opponent that forces you to prove every technique, every assignment, every hand placement. For a second-year guard who already has a Super Bowl ring and an NFC Championship scars to show for his first go-round, that’s not bravado. That’s someone who understands exactly what’s coming and can’t wait to line up against it anyway.
The NFC West doesn’t do comfortable. Zabel just made sure nobody forgets it.
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