Fists, a helmet and Jonathon Brooks fly in first Carolina Panthers padded practice
Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales stopped the defense in the middle of the team’s first practice of the week — the first padded practice of training camp season, no less — and offered them a challenge.
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This wasn’t up to their “standard,” he said.
The practice needed to be cleaner, tougher, scrappier.
And … in a way … the team delivered.
For the first time of training camp season, a contained fistfight broke out at the end of a 7-on-7 rep. It was unclear who initiated what, but the brawl included many of the team’s linebackers and defensive backs and receivers and running backs — and it was punctuated with cornerback Mike Jackson chucking tight end Feleipe Franks’ helmet high into the air.
“We always gotta push things to the limit,” Canales said. “This game is played with a lot of passion and a lot of aggression by nature. We’re going to be on edge. That’s going to happen in games. We can’t cross the lines. Personal fouls set you back. Fifteen-yard (penalties) are huge. …
“We gotta be able to keep our heads. But day one, guys are fired up. Words are said. That stuff happens. You go to the line, you can’t cross it.”
He added that he didn’t consider throwing Franks out of practice “at all.”
“With anybody, my conversation is always, ‘You gotta get your wits about you,’” Canales said. “If you can’t get it together in the next couple of plays, I’m going to have to send you in. … You’re going to have to bounce-back from different adverse situations throughout the season. So I want to see guys respond in the right way. And (Feleipe) certainly did, came back in the special teams period and was able to get himself back together.”
Such was the central part of an aggressive day — one of many fists and very few splash plays on both the defense and the offense. Technically the offense “won” the day, Canales said post-practice, but the eye test couldn’t discern a massive difference.
But if there was nothing else, there was competitiveness, aggression, something Canales doesn’t mind seeing.
“The physical nature that we play with, the way that we’re used to practicing, it just didn’t start that way,” Canales said. “We have three team periods, and right in the middle of the (first) period, I went over to the defense and said, ‘Hey, you guys drive this thing, we gotta show up. Everybody’s gotta get to the ball.’ And they took to the challenge and they responded well.”
He added: “They know what to expect. They know what to expect from each other, and I want to make sure they take ownership of that part. … We gotta have it. That’s the way this game is played.”
If there was one standout winner from Tuesday’s practice, it was the third-year running back who is taking part in his first training camp season of his career:
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Jonathon Brooks.
Brooks, the second-round draft pick in 2024, looked fast and was cutting confidently all across the field Tuesday. He was even getting involved in some of the aggression that was in the air — stiff-arming Corey Thornton while the cornerback was busy trying to punch the football out of his grasp for several seconds after the play was done.
For Brooks, all reports are great. Such is a big deal for a running back who suffered two ACL tears in his right knee in back-to-back seasons — in 2023 and 2024 — before sitting out all of 2025 to recover.
“I feel like I’m back to 100% getting out there, having fun,” Brooks said. He added, “It’s something that took a lot of time, something that took a lot of trusting the trainers and coaches, and the plan that they had me on and have me on. It’s great. It’s been awesome.”
Brooks is quite possibly tired of answering questions about his health. But that is not only the story of his NFL career to date — it’s also one of the biggest story lines for the Panthers this season. Brooks played a total of nine quarters of NFL football in 2024 and nothing more since. And while the team got glimpses of him back on the grass this offseason, the coaching staff was also slow to turn him 100% loose, sitting him out from team drills as he continued his recovery.
On Tuesday, however, he said he was full-go, cutting confidently and the like. Putting the pads on was a benchmark in his recovery, he said, even though he takes everything day-by-day.
“For me, being back out there, it’s definitely a confidence-booster to know that I’m fully healed, and I can take hits and be out there with my teammates,” Brooks said. “Full-speed, having fun, cutting, doing everything I need to do to help the team.”
He also made one admission, with a smile and a mention of his close friend and mentor Chuba Hubbard:
“I know in OTAs, I’ll get this out of the way, I said I was faster than Chuba,” Brooks said. “And this summer, we ran — we didn’t race, it was part of a workout — but he recorded a faster top-speed than me. So I take my comment back. I’m not faster than Chuba.”
Some 1-on-1 work, all with #Panthers QB Bryce Young throwing.
—John Metchie vs. Chau Smith-Wade
—Tetairoa McMillan vs. Corey Thornton
—Xavier Legette (can’t see CB’s number) … but he gets his feet in-bounds pic.twitter.com/pnILfzmwig
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This story was originally published July 28, 2026 at 2:08 PM.
