The Carolina Panthers received some devastating news on Monday afternoon. Just three weeks into his return, before he even got a chance to get his feet wet from an ACL tear, Jonathon Brooks injured his knee again.
The first-year Panthers running back fell to the turf and limped gingerly toward the sideline with a non-contact knee injury in Sunday’s 22-16 loss against the 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles. On Monday, the team announced that Brooks had torn the ACL in his right knee.
The injury is a catastrophic blow for the promising rookie whom the Panthers drafted out of the University of Texas in the second round in April.
“My heart is with him,” Carolina coach Dave Canales said. “I mean, just the amount of hard work that he put in to get back to this place, to get him to play. He’s heartbroken. I’m heartbroken. The whole group just feeling for him.”
The injury occurred in the opening quarter with the game in a scoreless tie. Brooks slipped to the turf on a routine cut and was in obvious pain. He attempted to walk to the sideline, but fell for a second time before he made it.
Brooks will have to undergo surgery at some point in the near future to determine the seriousness of the tear. Canales was not certain whether the procedure will be this month or next.
“We’ll be there every step of the way with him, supporting him with this, through this journey,” said Canales, who in April called Brooks the best back in the 2024 draft class. “He knows how to do this. He’ll be able to attack it, and his focus is just going to shift in terms of what he’s competing for.”
Embed from Getty ImagesBrooks was one of college football’s elite running backs at Texas and thought of by many as a potential first-round prospect. He tore the ACL in his right knee in November last season and dropped to the second round (No. 46) to the Panthers. Despite his injury, he was still the first running back taken off the board in the draft.
Losing Brooks in this unfortunate fashion caused genuine sympathy and emotion across the 53-man roster.
“It’s sad,” tight end Tommy Tremble said. “You work your butt off [to get back]. Man, he’s a hell of a player, too. So, like, seeing stuff like that is sad.
“We’re all praying for him. We all know he’s got us to fall back on.”
Brooks was on the shelf recovering from his injury and sat out of Carolina’s first 10 games before making his long-awaited NFL debut in Week 12 against the Kansas City Chiefs. He toted the rock eight times for 25 yards in two games while backing up Chuba Hubbard. Now, three games into his pro debut, Brooks is having to deal with another extended absence.
With Brooks injured and probably out for the rest of the season, Hubbard returns to a bell-cow role as the Panthers starting running back.
Hubbard, who on Sunday became the first Carolina back to surpass 1,000 yards rushing in a season since Christian McCaffrey in 2019, predicted Brooks will come back “stronger than ever.”
“JB is my guy,” Hubbard said. “Just to see how hard he’s worked to get back and all the work he’s put in, obviously your mind wants to go to a bunch of different places.
“But you just turn to God in these types of moments. [Brooks] has resilience. He’ll fight back.”
