Ranking Seahawks: Maxen Hook, Practice Squad Returnees Highlight No. 85-81
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Seattle Seahawks safety Maxen Hook awaits instructions during a drill at mandatory minicamp. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum [/caption]
With the calendar quickly heading towards July and offseason workouts wrapped up league-wide for the summer, the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will soon descend upon the Virginia Mason Athletic Center for the start of training camp, kicking off a much-anticipated 2026 season.
To celebrate the new incoming season, I will be ranking every member of the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks leading up to report day, providing detailed profiles, exploring best and worst case scenarios, and breaking down what to expect from each player entering the 2026 campaign.
Moving to No. 85-81 on my rankings, several practice squad players who earned Super Bowl rings last season will be back looking to take the next step and make the 53-man roster this time around, including a fascinating experiment for the Seahawks moving a 6-5 receiver with 4.3 speed to cornerback:
85. Maxen Hook, S
2025 Stats: DNP - Practice Squad
Previously starring at New Palestine High School in Indiana, Hook didn’t receive any scholarship offers from Power 4 programs, opting to stay fairly close to home by committing to Toledo. He saw extensive action in an abbreviated six-game season during the pandemic in 2020 before breaking into the starting lineup in 2021, finishing 12th in the MAC with 95 tackles. In his final three seasons with the Rockets, he amassed 257 combined tackles, seven interceptions, eight pass breakups, and two fumble recoveries while logging snaps as a free safety and strong safety in the box, securing First-Team All-MAC honors three consecutive years and participating in the Senior Bowl to tie up a fantastic college career on a high note.
Surprisingly, Hook went undrafted despite performing well in Mobile and at the NFL combine, signing with the Eagles as a priority free agent. Seeing defensive and special teams action, he produced 10 tackles and allowed a touchdown in coverage in three preseason games before being waived during final roster cuts by Philadelphia, eventually signing with the Seahawks practice squad in early October after waiting more than a month for his next opportunity. The team retained him on a future/reserve deal after the Super Bowl, further fortifying depth at one of the strongest positions on the 90-man roster and presenting him a chance to compete in the offseason program.
Best Case Scenario: Aided by his experience practicing in Macdonald’s defense last season, Hook has a far better preseason effort than he did in Philadelphia in 2025, outplaying the likes of AJ Finley while seeing snaps at both safety positions as well as special teams to earn a practice squad spot.
Worst Case Scenario: On the smaller side to play regular snaps near the line of scrimmage, Hook doesn’t see much action in exhibition games beyond special teams with several other veterans receiving the bulk of the defensive snaps, leading to his release with no return on the practice squad in late August.
What to Expect: Being overlooked isn’t anything new for Hook, who has made eclipsing expectations a regular habit throughout his football career. While he isn’t the biggest safety and has average athletic traits, he’s an instinctive player with a well-rounded skill set, capable of tallying tackles all over the field and getting his hands on the football in coverage. With those tools, there may still be a landing spot for him to make a 53-man roster in the NFL, but Seattle doesn’t look to be the right situation to make that happen with stars in Julian Love and Nick Emmanwori at the top of the depth chart and excellent veteran reserves in Rodney Thomas II and D’Anthony Bell ahead of him in the secondary pecking order. His best bet right now would be to turn in a strong exhibition season with hopes of catching the eye of a team with more immediate needs at the position.
84. Federico Maranges, C
2025 Stats: DNP - Practice Squad
Maranges had a roller coaster of a college career at Florida Atlantic, climbing into the starting lineup in 2020 before battling injuries the next two seasons and eventually working his way back into the lineup in 2023 and 2024. Once he re-established himself as a full-time starter, he performed well in pass protection in his final two college seasons with the Owls, yielding 10 or fewer pressures with a 98.7 percent pass block efficiency rate both years. He also ranked 17th among qualified centers in zone blocking grade (74.1) in 2024, flashing intriguing functional athleticism that catered well to a Shanahan style offensive scheme.
After not hearing his name called at the 2025 NFL Draft, Maranges quickly latched on with the Seahawks and logged 97 snaps during the preseason at the pivot position, allowing a sack on 44 pass protection reps. With Jalen Sundell and Olu Oluwatimi ahead of him, he spent the entire season on the practice squad with his spot not counting against the 16-man limit as an International Pathway Program player, re-signing as a future/reserve deal in February. He will once again compete for snaps as a reserve center and if OTAs serve as any indication, he could also see some work as a reserve guard in the preseason to add to his value.
Best Case Scenario: Showcasing improved versatility logging snaps at center as well as guard during the preseason, Maranges stays the course as a developmental pivot man behind Jalen Sundell and Olu Oluwatimi, remaining on the practice squad as a result.
Worst Case Scenario: Misfiring on a few snaps and struggling to consistently create push in the run game during preseason games, the Seahawks decide to move forward with Mason Richman as their emergency third center, cutting Maranges and choosing not to re-sign him as a 17th practice squad member.
What to Expect: For the first time in what feels like more than a decade, the Seahawks have real stability at the center position with Sundell entrenched as the starter and Oluwatimi providing a starter-caliber backup with ample regular season game experience behind him. From that perspective, barring an injury, Maranges does not have a road ahead of him to earn a spot on the 53, even if he does demonstrate the ability to play guard at a respectable level. With that said, rumors about Oluwatimi potentially being on the trade block continue to persist with several other teams around the league needing help at center, and such a move would immediately put him in the driver’s seat to become the new backup behind Sundell. Most likely, Seattle will stick with status quo, and with Maranges allowed to be on the practice squad without counting towards the 16-man limit, he would need to fall flat this summer not to be back as an insurance policy for continued development.
83. Logan Brown, T
2025 Stats: DNP - Practice Squad
One of the top recruits in the country with five-star distinction from 247 Sports and four-star distinction from ESPN, Brown began his college career at Wisconsin, where he redshirt his first year on campus before seeing limited action as a reserve in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He logged a career-high 207 snaps for the Badgers as a junior in 2022, allowing four pressures on 84 pass blocking reps while starting three games. But without a clear path to a starting job on a stacked Wisconsin offensive line, he opted to enter the transfer portal the following spring and committed to play for Kansas.
As a member of the Jayhawks, Brown turned in a breakout senior season in 2024, yielding just six pressures and no sacks on nearly 700 blocking snaps while earning All-Big 12 Second-Team recognition. Invited to the NFL combine, he posted an impressive 9.49 Relative Athletic Score, including a lightning quick 4.51 short shuttle time. Despite that athleticism, however, he went undrafted and signed with the Vikings as a free agent, giving up three pressures in a trio of preseason games before being waived in final roster cuts. He bounced around multiple practice squads as a rookie, including brief stints in Indianapolis and Cleveland, before ending the season with Seattle and signing a future/reserve deal to solidify bookend depth on the offensive line.
Best Case Scenario: With Josh Jones not 100% healthy and the duo of Amari Kight and Mason Richman not progressing from their rookie seasons, Brown inspires growing confidence from line coach John Benton as camp and the preseason unfold and leapfrogs into the fourth tackle spot, managing to steal an initial spot on the 53.
Worst Case Scenario: Lacking the physicality and technique to mesh with his enticing athleticism, Brown slogs through an uneven training camp primarily working with the third-team offense and gives up a pair of sacks in exhibition contests, losing out on a practice squad opportunity to Kight and hitting the waiver wire in final roster cuts.
What to Expect: Dating back to his days as a celebrated top recruit, Brown has always oozed elite athleticism, offering the type of lateral quickness and mobility teams with zone-heavy offenses covet. But for whatever reason, he never could quite put things together at Wisconsin, which prevented him from latching onto a full-time starting job before he transferred to Kansas, where he enjoyed much greater on-field success to close out his college career. Assuming Jones returns healthy after sitting out all of OTAs and minicamp, coupled with the coaching staff being high on both Richman and Kight, it may be an insurmountable task trying to sneak onto the final roster. However, depending on how many tackles the team decides to keep on the opening roster, a return to the practice squad to continue coaching him up isn’t out of the question and may even be the most likely outcome.
82. Jalan Gaines, EDGE
2025 Stats: DNP - Practice Squad
Hovering the radar as a recruit coming out of Oak Lawn High School in Chicago, Gaines spent one season at Division III Dubuque, registering 21 tackles, four sacks, and nine quarterback hits for the Spartans. Putting his name on the map for Division I schools, he hit the transfer portal and took his talents to Illinois State, where he logged action in three games as a sophomore before transitioning into a much larger role in his final two years on campus. Taking a star turn for the Redbirds as an outside linebacker in 2023, he broke out with 5.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss while also adding five pass breakups in coverage, ranking among team leaders in all three categories.
Though he didn’t quite hit the same sack total as a senior, Gaines finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference with 12.5 tackles for loss and also tallied 12 quarterback pressures, proving to be a frequent nuisance for opposing quarterbacks. After being bypassed in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Seahawks quickly signed him as a priority undrafted free agent and he participated in the entirety of the final phase of their offseason program before being released during training camp, eventually returning late in the season as a member of the practice squad before landing a future/reserve deal for another crack at competing for a roster spot in 2026.
Best Case Scenario: Far stronger than he was when he first joined the Seahawks as an undrafted rookie, Gaines exhibits above average twitch and get off as a pass rusher during exhibition games, including tallying his first sack, continuing his upward trajectory by returning to the practice squad for further refinement.
Worst Case Scenario: Still light in the lower body for an NFL EDGE, Gaines gets pushed around by reserve offensive linemen in the preseason and isn’t able to maintain momentum from a steady offseason program, receiving a pink slip without a return to the practice squad in the cards this time around.
What to Expect: Drawing unprompted praise from Mike Macdonald on a couple occasions this offseason, Gaines deserves a ton of credit for managing to stick around after the Seahawks initially cut him early in training camp last summer. He kept putting the work in behind the scenes awaiting his next opportunity and when the team needed extra help off the edge, he came back to Seattle with a renewed sense of urgency that earned him another contract for this upcoming season. Still under 250 pounds, however, he remains a significant project with plenty of rawness to his game. Due to his quick first step and above average bend turning the corner on tackles, there’s still hope for him to potentially evolve into an NFL caliber situational rusher, but he isn’t there just yet, making another stint on the practice squad as the most realistic ceiling for now.
81. Tyrone Broden, CB
2025 Stats: DNP - Practice Squad
Heralding from West Bloomfield High School in Detroit, Broden earned three-star distinction and a 51st overall ranking among athletes in Michigan, choosing to continue his career at Bowling Green over offers from several other MAC schools, including Buffalo and Ball State. Following a redshirt in his first year on campus and a shortened pandemic season, he emerged as one of the team’s top targets in 2021, snagging 36 receptions for 596 yards and five touchdowns while averaging north of 16 yards per reception. As one of Bowling Green’s top weapons in the passing game, he continued to produce as a vertical threat in 2022, catching 32 passes for 506 yards with seven touchdowns, putting himself on the radar for prospective schools as a desirable target in the transfer portal.
With two years of eligibility remaining, Broden picked Arkansas over several other interested Power 4 programs, catching 30 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns in two seasons in Fayetteville. Even with that limited production in the SEC, he ran a blazing 4.39 second 40-yard dash at his pro day workout and after going undrafted, the Seahawks quickly swooped in to sign him as a priority free agent. He spent all of his rookie season on the practice squad with no regular season games played and in a surprising decision, Mike Macdonald announced he would be transitioning to cornerback prior to the start of the offseason program, creating a fascinating storyline to watch one he returns from an undisclosed injury that kept him out all spring.
Best Case Scenario: Proving to be a natural despite his historic size for the position and picking up the defensive playbook without much of a hitch, Broden bounces back from offseason surgery and surprises as an unexpected contender for the second boundary cornerback spot in nickel/dime sets, settling for a practice squad spot with hopes of playing in regular season games at some point in 2026.
Worst Case Scenario: Not having played defense since high school, Broden spends most of training camp simply trying to get his head back above water as he learns a new position, putting him in an unofficial “redshirt” situation where the Seahawks don’t initially re-sign him to the practice squad and keep him on speed dial.
What to Expect: There may not be a bigger curiosity heading into Seahawks camp than Broden’s unexpected position switch. For one, per Pro Football Reference, there’s never been a 6-5 cornerback in NFL history, so if he does make the transition successfully enough to play snaps on defense in regular season games, he will have a page of the league record books all to himself. Expecting this switch to be smooth sailing would be ill-advised, however, as there undoubtedly will be major growing pains trying to master everything from new techniques to new terminology. Don’t be surprised if Broden ends up still seeing some action on offense at his native receiver spot while he dips his feet in the secondary, which would provide more of a justifiable reason to keep him on the practice squad than as simply an experimental corner who may or may not be able to cut it at the position.
Previous 90-Man Rankings
