PHOENIX \u2014 Jonathon Brooks\u2019 comeback attempt from a second ACL surgery will begin in earnest this spring.<\/p>\n
The Carolina Panthers\u2019 third-year running back is expected to be ready for the start of OTAs in April, Panthers coach Dave Canales said Monday at the NFL league meetings.<\/p>\n
Brooks, a second-round pick from Texas, hasn\u2019t played since Dec. 8, 2024, when he tore the ACL in his right knee on a non-contact play against the Philadelphia Eagles. Brooks first injured his knee against TCU on Nov. 11, 2023, during his final college season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m open to whatever he wants to bring and I know what he looked like prior to the injury. I know what that player looks like, so I have that in the back of my mind. And that\u2019s a vision that I hope he has too, so that we can go and attack that,\u201d Canales said during the NFC coaches breakfast at the Arizona Biltmore. \u201cHow do we get to a point where you can play your best, where you can be ready? And that\u2019ll be our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks, who\u2019s still only 22, made his NFL debut against the Kansas City Chiefs late in his rookie season. He showed his explosiveness during a Week 13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when his first touch went for an 18-yard completion. He finished with nine touches, including five in a row when the Panthers were in scoring position.<\/p>\n
Brooks told The Athletic in December his goal was to return to the field by the spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be back for OTAs so I can get back on that football field and get back to running the plays full speed, being in a team setting. Just so whenever we do hit (training) camp, I can hit the ground running and ultimately, just prove myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I haven\u2019t gotten that chance in the league to prove myself. And that\u2019s OK. It\u2019s a part of God\u2019s plan. And I know that when I get out there, I trust in myself, trust in my teammates, trust in God that I\u2019ll be able to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n Canales said the Panthers would do the \u201cright thing\u201d with Brooks, who was one of the nation\u2019s leading rushers at the time of his first ACL tear at Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I see the excitement,\u201d Canales added. \u201cHe\u2019s been in the building. He\u2019s been working out. He\u2019s been training with our guys. And I know that he\u2019s excited about this opportunity to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n As was the case at the combine last month, Canales again offered no timeline for left tackle Ikem Ekwonu\u2019s return from patellar tendon surgery in January. Ekwonu was hurt early in a playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams and is expected to miss at least part of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n The Panthers signed two offensive tackles during free agency \u2014 Rasheed Walker and Stone Forsythe. Walker, who started 48 games over his last three seasons in Green Bay, was the highest-ranked offensive lineman in The Athletic\u2019s list of the top 150 free agents. He signed a one-year deal worth $4 million<\/a>, plus incentives.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were fortunate to get Rasheed. The guy\u2019s got a bunch of experience and has played a lot of games. I feel great about that. Scheme-wise, he can do whatever we ask of him. So we feel good about the athlete, the guy, just talking to him,\u201d Canales said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gives us flexibility along with Stone Forsythe so that whatever Ickey\u2019s timeline looks like, we have guys that have played significant snaps.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Jonathon Brooks\u2019 comeback attempt from a second ACL surgery will begin in earnest this spring. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[462],"tags":[4443,5,1812,4,465,466],"class_list":{"0":"post-531947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-draft","8":"tag-carolina-panthers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-nhl-draft","13":"tag-nhl-entry-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116320854634641894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}