The Carolina Panthers clawed their way back to training camp on July 22, and it sounds like Jonathon Brooks is already lighting the field on fire.
Anthony Rizzuti, who covers the Panthers for USA Today, reported that Brooks was a full participant in training camp “for the first time in his career” and he impressed the coaching staff.
The 2024 second-round pick made a late rookie debut while recovering from a torn ACL, which ended with him retearing the same ACL in his third NFL game.
After missing all of last season to recover, he said in April he felt close to 100%.
Brooks has looked strong in the spring, according to NFL reporter Cameron Wolfe.
Head coach Dave Canales was apparently getting the same vibe after just one day back on the practice field.
“Really looking forward to, just the hard work that JB has had to do over the last couple of years to get him to this point,” Canales said of Brooks.
He made no effort to contain his excitement about what Brooks could be in this Panthers offense.
“He feels great. He feels strong. He looks fast; he looks like the guy that I remember, and I’m really excited for that.”
Brooks, who looks to mix in with incumbent starter Chuba Hubbard after the departure of Rico Dowdle, who led the team in rushing.
Hubbard struggled to get his footing in 2025, despite averaging around 16 opportunities in his first six games.
He finished the season with 511 rushing yards and 1 TD on only 134 rushes.
Offensive Coordinator Brad Idzik kept piling praise on Brooks in spring ball, calling him “one of the most talented guys on our roster.”
CHUBA IN TROUBLE? BROOKS LURKING TO CHALLENGE FOR LEAD BACK ROLE
Whoooooosh!
That was the sound of Brooks’ door to fantasy relevance swinging wide open.
Since taking over as the top dog in Carolina, Canales has produced juicy backfields with arguably underwhelming talent.
Hubbard had plenty of zip coming out of college and has grown into his role as a RB2/flex worthy weekly play.
However, Canales dropped a juicy nugget in February on an episode of Panther Talk, claiming he is in the running to start.
“He’s flying around, he’s big, he’s beautiful-looking….He’s one of the more powerful, explosive athletes that we have—and he’s gonna have an opportunity to compete to start for this team, just like a lot of other guys.”
OOOOOH WEEEEEE!
In 2024, Brooks was the clear alpha back in the class, no disrespect to Trey Benson truthers like myself.
During 2023, Brooks racked up 1,425 yards from scrimmage and 11 TDs in just 11 games.
His blend of explosivity and power towered over an otherwise weak class.
To make matters better, if Brooks were in this year’s class, he would rank:
- 1st in yards per reception
- 2nd in yards per attempt
- 2nd in forced missed tackle rate
- 2nd in total YPG
- 3rd in yards per route run
- 3rd in first down rate
- 4th in yards after contact per attempt
“This is a celebration, and you can feel the gratitude in him; you can feel the focus and how important this opportunity is for him,” Canales said of Brooks.
As for Hubbard, 2025 really started showing signs the wheels might have fallen off after a strong end to the 2024 season.
Hubbard’s 2.3 yards after contact per attempt was tied for dead last among all RBs with at least 100 rush attempts, tied with Woody Marks and Devin Singletary.
In fact, only Bucky Irving (173) had a worse attempts per touchdown rate than Hubbard. He broke a tackle on only 6% of his runs while forcing a missed tackle on 4% of attempts.
In other words, Hubbard struggled to create for himself.
So, Brooks has similar pass-catching chops to Love, has been flying and weaving through defenders in practice, and is still a young pup?
Oh, and he is terrific at forcing missed tackles and thrives after contact?
As always, Scott Barrett with Fantasy Points had interesting nuggets, and he dove into Brooks at a deeper level.
“He was strikingly similar to Bijan, and Brooks’ 142.1 YFS/G would have ranked as the best single-season mark of any Power 5 RB in the 2024 class. He was even more involved through the air and only slightly less efficient everywhere else.”
Brooks is clearly a league-winning sleeper waiting to awaken. It’s all a matter of health.
