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After an injury-riddled start to his career, Carolina Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks has unfortunately gone down once again. During the first half of the Panthers' game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Brooks went down with a non-contact injury while trying to bounce a run outside.
Brooks appeared to injure his right leg on the play and was carted off the field back into the locker room shortly after the play.
Of course, this raises immediate concern for Brooks, who missed most of his final season at Texas in 2023 and the first half of his rookie year with the Panthers after tearing his right ACL in the fall of 2023.
Despite suffering that injury last season, Brooks had still put enough on tape to be selected at No. 46 overall by the Panthers as a second round pick. While his injury dragged farther into this season than most people expected, he was finally back in the lineup and making an impact in the Carolina backfield alongside Chuba Hubbard.
Brooks' injury happened on his first touch of the afternoon, which went for a loss of three yards. Hubbard has had a very successful day on the ground, rushing for 63 yards on 15 carries in the first half and helping the Panthers stay in the game against the heavily favored Eagles, who lead 14-10 at halftime.
Brooks was making his third appearance of the season this year after returning from injured reserve. He had just eight carries coming into this game for 25 yards and had also caught three passes for 23 yards. Without Brooks in the lineup, look for the Panthers to lean more on Hubbard while Miles Sanders remains on injured reserve.
Hubbard had a critical fumble in an overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, but he has slowly emerged as a very reliable option at running back for Carolina.
Of course, losing Brooks is a bad omen for the Panthers offense. A good running game is crucial to keep quarterback Bryce Young in positive situations where an elite Eagles defense can't just tee off on him in the pocket, and losing the former Texas star hurts their ability to do that. Hubbard is capable of carrying the load, but the Panthers likely don't want to put 30 carries onto the shoulders of one player. We'll see how they handle the backfield rotation in the second half.
