Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks again tears ACL in right knee

On By Littum

Carolina Panthers rookie running back Jonathon Brooks tore the ACL in his right knee — for the second time in 13 months — in Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, coach Dave Canales announced Monday.

Brooks suffered the injury on a first-quarter touchdown play at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

Brooks tore the ACL on November 11, 2023 in a Longhorns 29–26 win over TCU. The Panthers, who fell to 3-10 with their third straight close loss Sunday, still felt good enough about Brooks to select him in the second round of the 2024 draft.

Brooks spent the entire preseason and first nine games rehabbing the injury before making his NFL debut three games ago in a 30-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He had two carries for 7 yards in that game and six for 18 the following week in an overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while playing behind Chuba Hubbard.

He hurt his knee against Philadelphia on his only carry that resulted in a loss of 3 yards.

Canales said Brooks will have surgery to repair his injury “at some point,” but he was unsure if it would be this month.

“My heart is with him,” Canales added. “I mean, just the amount of hard work he’s put in to get back to this place, to get him to play. He’s devastated. I’m devastated. The whole group just feels for him.

“We’re going to be there every step of the way with him and support him with this, through this journey. He knows how to do this. He’s going to be able to attack it and his focus is just going to change in terms of what he competes for.”

Asked if 2026 was a realistic target for Brooks to be ready for a full return, Canales said: “I really don’t know. They have to come in and look at it all. I’m sure we’ll get there more information after the operation and all that.”

Canales said the team will look to bring in another running back. Chuba Hubbard was the only healthy running back on the roster after Sunday’s game.

Raheem Blackshear was taken to a Philadelphia hospital with a chest injury. He is listed as day-to-day heading into Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Mike Boone would be next off the practice squad.

ESPN’s David Newton contributed to this report.