The Carolina Panthers had reason to exhale after Jonathon Brooks left Sunday’s 34-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons with trainers.
Given Brooks’ injury history, any exit like that sets off alarms fast. The second-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft already came into the league recovering from an ACL tear that wiped out more than half of that season, then tore the same ACL again shortly after his debut and missed the rest of the year and all of 2025. So when he headed to the locker room late in the game, the immediate fear was obvious.
This time, though, it does not sound like the Panthers are dealing with another major knee setback. Brooks was later said to be dealing with the groin issue he had in preseason, not a problem with the repaired ACL. For a player with his track record, that distinction matters.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales explained it this way after the game: "He was able to get back [from the initial groin injury] and really get rolling again. He bounced one to the left, coming toward our sideline and got it sore on him."
That’s still not ideal for a back who has already spent so much time away from the field, and other reports described Brooks as "week to week." But it does not sound like the kind of injury that will knock him out for a long stretch.
The bigger picture is unchanged. Brooks remains a talented runner the Panthers have invested in heavily, but staying healthy has been the hurdle from the start. Sunday brought another scare, but at least this one appears to have been a bullet dodged rather than a season-changing blow.
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