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# Enjoying ‘Head Start’ in 2025, Jalen Sundell Pushing For Seahawks’ Starting Role
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/jalen-sundell-seattle-seahawks-enjoying-head-start-starting-role/
- Published: 2025-07-25T05:01:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:58:54.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Features, Seahawks, Jalen Sundell, Training Camp

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2899"\]

![  Seattle Seahawks center/guard Jalen Sundell shoots out of his stance to block a pad during a drill at the team’s second training camp practice. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/unnamed--281-29-format-original-3.jpg)

Seattle Seahawks center/guard Jalen Sundell shoots out of his stance to block a pad during a drill at the team’s second training camp practice. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum \[/caption\]

RENTON, Wash. - Incoming undrafted rookies already face a daunting task adjusting to the NFL with the benefit of an offseason program, and for those who don’t get to participate in organized team activities or minicamps, the odds of making a roster plunge exponentially.

Waiting for his chance throughout the spring, former North Dakota State center Jalen Sundell fit that bill, not signing with a team until the Seattle Seahawks took a shot on him mere days before the start of training camp last July. Squarely behind the eight-ball compared to his peers without any prior reps working with then-offensive line coach Scott Huff, he only took a handful of snaps in his first few practices, putting him in a precarious position when it came to trying to impress a new staff, let alone stick around past final cuts.

“I just had to do what I do,” Sundell recalled. “We had one meeting before the first practice last year and I didn’t get too many snaps right away. I think I maybe had four snaps in the first practice. I had to figure out what I was doing before and I don’t know what our offensive line coach wanted at the time, so I just did what I knew and tried to do it full speed. I just had to rely on the basics.”

But fast forwarding exactly one year later, Sundell not only remains with the Seahawks after that unideal start to his NFL journey, but after stunningly making the 53-man roster last fall and suiting up for 12 games as a rookie, he’s entering his second season with a golden opportunity in front of him in an offensive scheme well-suited for his strengths and versatility.

During the spring offseason program, including a two-day mandatory minicamp, Sundell split first-team reps at center with incumbent Olu Oluwatimi, who started Seattle’s final nine games last season after Connor Williams abruptly retired during the team’s Week 10 bye. Leaning on his prior experience playing all five offensive line spots for the Bison at the FCS level, he also rotated in at right guard with the first and second-team offenses, ensuring he would have far more snaps under his belt than he did a year earlier.

Putting a cherry on top, according to coach Mike Macdonald, Sundell captured the Top Hawk Award at the conclusion of the offseason, rewarded for his outstanding work stacking strong days on and off the field as selected by coaches and teammates.

“It's been good,” Sundell smiled. “It was fun to do my first NFL off season with the team and to get a head start and get to learn the offense before we get into fall camp. Because last year, I didn't get a chance to do that, so I was behind last year. It was nice to have that time.”

This offseason, on the heels of a 10-win season that didn’t end with a playoff berth, Seattle wasted little time shaking up the coaching staff, relieving offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, Huff, and the majority of the offensive coaches of their respective duties. Coming on board as replacements, former Saints play caller Klint Kubiak brought offensive line coach John Benton and run game coordinator Rick Dennison in tow from New Orleans, ready to bring his zone-heavy system influenced by Mike Shanahan’s scheme to the Pacific Northwest.

From that group, Benton’s arrival has been most beneficial for Sundell, as the tenured assistant brings more than 20 years of NFL offensive line coaching experience to the equation and has always favored athletic blockers who can fly off the ball and do so from multiple positions. The Maryville, Missouri native checks off both of those boxes, as he posted an outstanding 9.33 Relative Athletic Score at his pro day workout with a fast 1.77 10-yard split time and 30 1/2-inch vertical jump after logging snaps at all five offensive line spots in a decorated college career in Fargo.

Not surprisingly, Benton has wanted to get a closer look at Sundell thus far, and just as he did in the spring, the second-year blocker has split his time between center and right guard in the first two training camp practices. Many of those snaps have come while working with the first-team offense at right guard, where he saw an uptick in snaps between Oluwatimi and right tackle Abraham Lucas on Thursday, a clear sign that he has entered the chat vying for a starting job against Christian Haynes and Anthony Bradford.

Such curiosity in Sundell likely wouldn’t have materialized if not for how he performed in his first extended regular season game action last December. Thrust into the lineup when Oluwatimi banged up his knee in the first quarter of a Sunday night prime time contest against the Packers, the rookie wasn’t fazed playing under the lights on the biggest stage. Though he did give up a few pressures in pass protection, he showed off his athleticism as a pulling guard to rumble out in front of Zach Charbonnet, springing the back for a 24-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter with his father watching proudly from the stands.

“From going to being a tryout guy to playing on Sunday Night Football,” Sundell remarked. “And then my dad made the last second decision to actually come to that game. So it was pretty special.”

Putting several good blocks on film for Benton, Kubiak, and the rest of the Seahawks’ new look staff against a quality NFC North opponent certainly helped Sundell’s cause heading towards OTAs, and as evidenced by him winning the Top Hawk Award, he only added to his momentum in May and June.

Learning under the tutelage of Benton, Sundell and his line mates have had to adapt to some non-traditional techniques in Kubiak’s system. While most zone blocking schemes emphasize true double teams, that hasn’t necessarily been the case for the Seahawks, who have put more of a prioritization on getting off quick combos and climbing to the second level to reach linebackers and safeties.

With that, there’s been a learning curve for the entire group as coaches have asked players to pivot from what they have done their entire football careers, which could be problematic if a bunch of established veterans were on the roster. But on that front, Sundell views the youth of Seattle’s line as a positive, as he, former college roommate and first-round pick Grey Zabel, and the rest of his teammates collectively have been eager to learn and dove head-first into Benton’s system without batting an eye.

“That's the cool part about us having a younger offensive line too, is that we don't have anybody that's out there going to say, ‘I'm not going to buy into this technique. I've been doing it for 10 years. I can't. I'm not going to change,’” Sundell said. “We don't have that, which is cool with the new offense. So everybody's buying into this system and the techniques, so it's pretty cool.”

Only a few practices into camp with pads yet to come out for the first time and much left to learn in coming weeks, the Seahawks aren’t in a rush to name a starter at center or right guard and those competitions won’t be decided until at least midway through the preseason. But as Macdonald acknowledged, Sundell has performed his way into the conversation as a legitimate contender at both positions, putting the likes of Oluwatimi, Haynes, and Bradford on notice with his consistency, athleticism, and rare positional flexibility, which was his calling card to a roster spot as a rookie.

For now, Sundell will continue doing what he has done since returning to town in April, making the most of all of his opportunities in everything from individual drills to team scrimmage sessions while absorbing everything Benton has to teach him like a sponge. And if anyone has doubts about him being able to vault his way into a full-time starter role, after coming out of nowhere to earn a roster spot when he hadn’t even been in Seattle during OTAs and minicamp last year, nobody should be discounting what he may be able to accomplish with a full offseason program under his belt.