What Do We Do With Jonathon Brooks?

Jonathon Brooks came into the NFL with a decent amount of hype thanks to his college tape in his one full season as a starter at Texas and due to his draft capital. The Panthers invested quite a lot into him with a second-round selection, and fantasy managers were optimistic about his chances of becoming the Panthers’ franchise running back and many spent first-round picks on him in dynasty formats.

And then the Panthers extended Chuba Hubbard. That’s ok, not all is lost. There’s nothing wrong with having two dynamic (or potentially dynamic) backs on the same team. It does hurt his upside, but we just needed to adjust our expectations.

Then on Sunday, Brooks went down with a non-contact injury in the Panthers game against Philadelphia. It has been confirmed that he has torn his right ACL again and will miss the rest of the season. Forgetting the fantasy side of things for just a moment, I do want to say I was sad this afternoon when I found out. This man has worked incredibly hard his whole life to get to the NFL, worked to rehab from a severe injury, practiced, and was starting to finally see some game action only to have an already limited rookie season cut short. My heart goes out to him and I do hope he recovers and comes back to a successful NFL career.

But, switching back to fantasy football, what can we expect from him moving forward? What are dynasty managers supposed to do?

Jonathon Brooks Injury Comps

Before we got into some injury comparisons, for redraft leagues, he will miss the majority of next year, so Chuba Hubbard is a great pick in drafts and should get the majority of the snaps in what is looking like an improving offense under Dave Canales. That’s one thing going for Brooks as well, at least the team he’s returning to should be better or improving. It doesn’t look like he will return to a dumpster fire.

Secondly, I want to clarify the rest of this article assumes the team doesn’t draft another running back with high draft capital. The 2025 RB class is loaded but Carolina has needs elsewhere, just spent a second on Brooks, and extended Chuba. So I think this is a safe assumption.

So what do we do with Brooks going forward? He has two ACL tears in the same knee in a short period of time, so can he even come back and have a successful career?

Now let’s look at some comps. Nick Chubb suffered about the worst injury you could have coming out of college, tearing his MCL, PCL, and LCL in 2015. He went on to have a great career in Cleveland. He did tear his ACL last year and hasn’t looked the same, but that injury happened in the later stages of his career, not early on.

Frank Gore suffered multiple ACL tears while in college along with multiple knee injuries in his long and storied career. Jamaal Charles tore his ACL in 2011 and had multiple good years post-injury but he didn’t have an injury in college. He tore his ACL again in 2015 (late career) and wasn’t the same afterward. Adrian Peterson led the NFL in rushing the year after tearing his ACL but didn’t have that kind of injury in college. He did suffer an MCL injury in 2016 and had some usable fantasy seasons after that, to his credit.

Running backs have come back from injuries and played well. But quite honestly, I think the closest optimistic comps for Brooks are Chubb, Gore, and J.K. Dobbins (and that’s not to say he will become Chubb or Gore). I say that I fully realize Dobbins is currently out with an injury at the time of writing, but he was having a bounce-back year.

What’s His Fantasy Outlook?

Quite honestly, it’s not great. I won’t sit here and say he can’t come back from this injury because he can. ACL injuries are as scary as they used to be, but it is scary when a running back has two of the same injuries in the same knee 13 months apart. The team is surely going to proceed with caution with Brooks moving forward, and his potential for a workhorse role has likely gone down the drain. He’s more than likely going to be a committee back for the majority of his career.

But, I don’t want to end on that downer when the whole article has been, so lets look at this from a different perspective. I don’t think his career is over, first off. Nick Chubb hasn’t looked like his old self yet since returning from his injury, and he may never, but I want to give him some time to fully judge that. Dobbins himself has sustained more and honestly worse injuries in his career and he still finds his way onto the field and has been effective when healthy.

Brooks can still have a good career. If he is a 1-2 punch with Chuba Hubbard, so be it. It might prove helpful for him in the long run. 10-14 touches per game isn’t bad, and hopefully, he can be around the 12-15 mark alongside Chuba in his return. If he can return to his college form or even 85-90% of that, he’s still a usable back for fantasy (RB2-3 range).

All we have to go on are eight pre-injury carries for 24 yards and three receptions for 23 yards. It’s encouraging they experimented with him as a receiving option in his second NFL game, and it hints at his potential versatility. That’s why I’m still cautiously optimistic about his future. He might never be a workhorse, but an RB2-3 type? That’s within his range of possibilities. But for right now, if you are trying to trade him away, you’re trading him away at his lowest possible value. His value may never increase but it’s hard to get much lower. On the bright side, if you’re trying to acquire him, you could be in for a great discount if he returns to his college form. But that might be a big IF.

TLDR, there are a lot of questions surrounding Brooks right now. His injury history is now complicated thanks to two injuries in the same knee a year apart. His value is low, presenting a buying opportunity, but those who have him know they are selling him low, and may not be inclined to sell because of it. If you have him, it’s probably best to hold. He likely will never return the draft capital you spent on him, but he could be a nice depth piece. If you want out, hold him and hope for some preseason hype or future in-season success to sell. There’s a case to be made for all three scenarios (buy, sell, and hold) but ultimately it comes down to your own personal roster and convictions. It might sound like a bit of a cop-out answer (I’m not saying “Sell him at all costs!” or whatever), but it’s true. Denying the potential range of outcomes for Brooks is a fool’s errand. Nothing is set in stone in NFL or fantasy football. So do what’s best for your roster.

Now, if you REALLY want an answer, depending on the price, I might float out some offers to see if I can buy low on him.

That’s all for now! If you want to continue the conversation, make sure to join the Ballfield Banter discord server where we talk football 24/7!