In Saturday’s preseason game, Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks took his biggest step yet in his long road to recovery from his second serious knee injury.
Brooks got on the field in live action and had four touches with the first-string offense. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but merely playing was a bit step for him after tearing the ACL in his right knee in his final college game, and then tearing the same ACL in just the third game of his pro career.
In 2023 at Texas, Brooks tore the ACL the first time. He then declared for the 2024 NFL draft, and the Panthers liked his talent enough to pick him in the second round, even though he was still recovering. Brooks didn’t get onto the field until November of his rookie season while he recovered from the college injury, and after carrying the ball just nine times in the NFL, he tore the ACL in Week 14 of 2024. That injury caused him to miss the rest of 2024 and the entire 2025 season.
Now Brooks is finally back, and Panthers coach Dave Canales said the team is excited to have him back.
“It just felt good to see him out there running, getting hit, getting tackled, popping up and going back to the huddle,” Canales said of Brooks. “I got a little emotional just knowing the journey to get him back to that point.”
The Panthers lost their leading rusher from last season when Rico Dowdle left for Pittsburgh in free agency. They’d love to see Brooks step up and fill that void, and on Saturday he took a step toward doing that.
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