Jonathon Brooks held out of team reps. Why Carolina Panthers aren’t worried
It’s true that Jonathon Brooks didn’t participate in team drills during the Carolina Panthers’ OTA session on Tuesday.
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It’s also true that Dave Canales isn’t sweating it.
The head coach told reporters that the decision to limit Brooks’ reps Tuesday was a product of ramping up the former second-round pick’s workload. After all, the 22-year-old running back has only played three games in two NFL seasons due to ACL tears in back-to-back years on the same knee.
“Just a rest day,” Canales said. “We have him on a good rhythm of loading him up, getting some good work, and then just making sure we back off and increase his load. Similar with Jaelan Phillips and Pat Jones — two other guys … we just had them take vet days today. … Even at this time of year, it’s a lot of movement, a lot of speed out there. And we just try to be smart with certain guys and make sure that their rhythms are right.”
Still, though, Canales clarified: Brooks looks “great.”
“(That’s) in the run game, certainly, but also in the pass game,” Canales said. “Half of his highlights when he was coming out are screen passes, wides, things down the field. He has a great ability to catch the ball, track the ball and transition once he catches it.”
Brooks said he feels great, too. He looked the part on Tuesday in his limited reps but especially did last week — when he was essentially “full-go,” flexing his speed in the run game and agility in the receiving game.
Such reports were welcomed by a fan base that has been waiting two years for Brooks, the running back out of Texas and the first back taken in the 2024 draft. When asked if he felt “100%” on Tuesday, he stopped short of saying that. He instead said that while he doesn’t have “any hesitations” about trusting his knee, there’s still a ways to go for him to be the football player he knows he can be.
“Getting back out there, it’s been a little over a year since I went against a defense,” Brooks said Tuesday. “Obviously it takes some time to get used to. But it’s been good so far. I’m just trusting in their plan, and the prep so far has been pretty good.”
He added: “I don’t think I’ve hit my full speed yet. But it feels good to be back out there. Like I said, just trusting in my journey that God has for me, and not looking at other people’s journeys, other people’s injuries, and be like, ‘Oh, he came back at this time.’ Just trusting in my process. And really making sure that I feel 100% and that I’m doing what’s best for myself in terms of rehab to get myself back out there.”
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Brooks, in nine quarters in 2024 and none in 2025, has produced 22 rushing yards and 23 receiving yards on 12 total NFL touches. The Panthers figured out a suitable “Plan B” with him sidelined last year — the emergence of Rico Dowdle was massive for the offense and the team as a whole. But this year, with Dowdle in Pittsburgh and Hubbard as the starter, it’s feeling more and more like Brooks will be given the chance to claim his spot as the undisputed RB2.
Brooks isn’t looking that far ahead, he told reporters Friday.
“Right now, I’m solely focused on OTAs,” Brooks said. “I’m solely focused on stacking good days. Stacking days where I can be out there with my teammates and just getting ready.”
His teammates can tell how much joy he has playing. Why? Because they saw all the work that has gone into his return.
“JB was here every day,” Trevor Etienne told The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday. “JB is a guy that’s always around the facility. You can call JB for whatever, whenever, he’s there. He’s one of those types of guys. Selfless, all about everybody else and that’s one thing that makes him special as a person.”
Among the other things Brooks mentioned in his media availability: His late father, Skip, is always with him, whenever he’s working out or playing football. He never felt isolated last year, he said; he credits that to his faith but also being at the facility regularly and having great mentors like Hubbard to keep him grounded.
Speaking of Hubbard, Brooks told reporters that he and the former 2021 draft pick are quite competitive with one another. How competitive? The two have talked trash over who … is taller. Yes, it was a debate. And yes, according to Brooks, he won it.
When asked if Brooks knows his top speed — such metrics are recorded nowadays — the running back shrugged and said he doesn’t know.
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“It’s up there,” he said.
He smiled.
“Faster than Chuba, for sure.”
