NFL Draft
11/24/24
6 min read
Maxen Hook 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Toledo Rockets SAF
Height: 6000 (unofficial)
Weight: 203 (unofficial)
Year: Fifth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Reed Blankenship
Scouting Overview
Toledo Rockets safety Maxen Hook is a high-volume tackler who excels in run support and finishing ball carriers in the open field. Hook has a great motor and routinely runs down plays from the far side of the field, helping to serve as an error eraser on the back end of the defense while limiting explosive plays from his alignments.
He is a capable defender who can play in the box and showcases the block deconstruction and gap-shooting ability to serve in a role there in NFL sub-packages. He’ll be at his best as a split-field safety in base sets and eventually could be groomed into an opportunity to be an NFL starter.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Very good open-field tackler. Showcases good balance, discipline, and striking ability
- Strong run support player who fits well from depth but can also pop on the second level in sub-packages
- Core special teams player in his early years at Toledo, setting the stage for rosterability if not given a starting opportunity
Negatives
- Modest ceiling as a deep coverage defender, not a great fit for single-high roles
- Coverage ability in man-to-man coverage is limited by short-area agility and hip fluidity
- Ball production has come from a number of “right place, right time” opportunities with poor decision-making and accuracy vs. claiming catch-point real estate
Background
Hook is from New Palestine, IN, and played his high school football for New Palestine HS. Hook was a safety and wide receiver for the program and was ranked as a 2-star recruit (247 Sports). Hook received offers from a number of prominent FCS programs, including South Dakota State and Illinois State, plus offers from multiple service academies and MAC programs before ultimately committing to and enrolling at Toledo.
Hook played in all six games of his true freshman season in 2020 before commanding a starting role full-time with the team as a second-year freshman in 2021. Hook was named Third-Team All-MAC that season before reeling off consecutive First-Team All-MAC honors in 2022 and 2023 ahead of his final season of eligibility in 2024.
He accepted an invitation to the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl in November 2024.
Tale Of The Tape
Hook has a number of attractive qualities that, in the right environment, could be utilized in a starting role. The biggest thing that stands out is the range and effectiveness as a tackler in the run game.
Hook carries a single-digit missed tackle rate for his career at Toledo, an impressive mark for a safety who spends so much of his time in space and on the last line of defense. He’s got effective length, stout pads, and a disciplined cadence to approach ball carriers from all angles and provide an effective challenge.
You see good technique with striking tackles at the catch point, wrap and roll opportunities in lateral pursuit, and form tackles when plugging downhill. I’d put his tackling up against any other defensive back in the class.
You pair his tackling prowess with a hot motor and sufficient athleticism and size, and the product is a player who boasts the ceiling of a possible NFL starter. The ceiling isn’t that of an impact starter, but he will meet NFL baseline thresholds for a player to play in split-field opportunities as a deep-half defender who trusts his eyes in coverage.
The ceiling in coverage is much higher in zone coverage than it is in man. This is not a player with slot flexibility or an appealing profile to play man coverage in zero situations on the back end. He lacks the change of direction and mirror skills necessary to really pop in these opportunities and can be prone to conceding separation.
Hook's ball production has mainly been via opportunistic reps. He’s collected interceptions off tipped balls and overthrows. He’s flashed good hands to secure catches in those opportunities. Still, he does not appear to have the elite change of direction or explosiveness needed to be a ballhawk on the back end who can convert the trust he puts in his eyes into opportunities at being first to the ball.
In all, Hook is a quick processor with the necessary zone coverage ability to fulfill a role in a zone match scheme as a deep half player or potentially serve as a big-nickel defender against 12p-heavy offenses, where he can be less tasked to plaster routes in space against tight ends and utilize his run support and tackling abilities in the box.
Hook has logged more than 1,500 career snaps in the box and more than 600 snaps as a deep safety, a testament to his physicality. He has not been utilized much as a pressure player, however, so timing up pressure opportunities in a blitz-heavy scheme may be a work in progress.
Hook showcases sufficient lateral redirection ability, thanks to how he stays under control in pursuit. But his hips do show some added tightness when he’s forced to pedal or speed turn in space to flip open and expand his coverage range on the back end. This is a potential limitation for deep post responsibilities against teams that have quarterbacks who can drive the ball outside the numbers downfield.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Hook should be regarded as a developmental starter for the NFL. The leap in the level of competition could yield a prolonged transition period, but Hook is capable of filling in the blanks in the meantime as a core special teams player who can play on all the kick and kick coverage units.
Defensively, split field and zone match defenses are likely to get the best run out of him, where his football instincts can shine, and he can play as a deep support player in the run game.
Grade: 72.50/100.00, Fourth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
