Jonathon Brooks has played 3 games in his NFL career and is being drafted like an established starter. The fantasy community has fallen hard for the Carolina backfield’s newest favorite. There is a real case to be made for him, and there are just as many unanswered questions. Fantasy managers have to decide whether the rising price still leaves any value on the table.
Should You Draft Jonathon Brooks in Fantasy Football?
Heading into 2026, Brooks is an open book, a blank book even.
As of early September, Brooks has an ADP of 96.4. His PFN rank is 95, and his positional rank is RB32. All of those values are lower than his teammate Chuba Hubbard’s. But if you look at the projected points per game, they’re more or less equal at 10.5, which is very interesting.
Brooks, of course, secured 2nd-round capital in the 2024 NFL Draft, but has only registered 9 career carries for 22 yards to this point. A torn ACL ended his collegiate career at Texas, and then he tore his ACL again in November 2024. He was ultimately placed on the physically unable to perform list that ensuing May of 2025 and missed the 2025 season as a result. Brooks is now 20 months and counting removed from that last ACL injury. There have been no reaggravations. He’s fully healthy, and it stands to reason that he is poised to finally rebound from that extended absence.
In college, Brooks was a hyper-efficient two-phase player who closed out his career with a 6.1 yards per attempt average, over 100 rushing yards per game, a 5.35% TD rate, and almost 300 receiving yards in his final season. His stat sheet reads 8 carries for 23 yards and a touchdown through his first two weeks of preseason play. That’s not overly impressive, but despite the volatility with efficiency early on, Brooks has impressed on the film. He’s an explosive slasher who’s shown he can use footwork to widen gaps and capitalize in short order with vision and quick reaction, as well as pressing IQ, cutting flexibility, and adaptability, which particularly comes in handy in the red zone.
The improvements on the defensive side might enable the Panthers to play from positive game scripts more often, especially versus NFC South competition. Even though we have no sample size of NFL production to go off of for Brooks, he is the RB I’m targeting in the Panthers RB rotation. He’s finally healthy, long since removed from his torn ACL in 2024. He benefits from a top-half offensive line in the league and Dave Canales’ multifaceted run scheme. Chuba Hubbard, his counterpart, is more susceptible to decreased volume, I think, with a more contemporary injury risk and lacking efficiency.
At his value, Brooks presents well as a back who will get a reliable weekly workload and has the potential to emerge as a true volume back, an RB1 in his offense and a high-end RB2 in a peak outcome. At the very least, he’s a mid-level to low-level RB2 who can serve as a rosterable asset for you week in and week out. Brooks, I think, has a lot of understated upside that is going overlooked because he has no volume or production to go off of. But I think he is poised to break out with little volume competition and the upside in his favor.
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Jonathon Brooks’ Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
Brooks entering this season with a real chance to matter is one small step for Texas and one large step for modern medicine.
The former 2nd-round pick has been unable to get his professional career on track because of not one, but two right ACL tears. Knock on wood, but all seems to be in order right now, and that has managers wondering about just how bullish they can be on him.
We have 12 career touches to go off of, and that obviously makes things tough. His 6.2 yards per carry with the Longhorns is encouraging, though it should be noted that only one was in a featured role.
The matchup is right. The Bears ranked 27th in defensive success rate against the rush last season, and the Panthers profile as the type of squad that will try to play defense with their offense (10th in rush rate last season, 5th when the game was within a single score). Hubbard is expected to play through the hamstring injury that cost him time this summer, and he technically sits atop this depth chart.
That could change quickly.
My issue with being early to the Brooks gravy train is that I’m not sure he gets a real look at 15+ touches until he proves that he can withstand a smaller role first.
For me, this is simple: you give Brooks time. You showed your interest in him by drafting him, and that was wise. In doing so, you were committing to the long game. My hope is that he can flash the upside we saw from him in college and work his way into a J.K. Dobbins-like role where we simply plug him in as long as he’s on the active roster.
We aren’t there yet. He has a real chance to take over this backfield, but with very few roster restrictions in terms of injuries/byes/roles, there’s no need to roll these dice in Week 1.
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Where Brooks Ranks Among 2026 Running Backs
- Rhamondre Stevenson | NE
- TreVeyon Henderson | NE
- Chuba Hubbard | CAR
- Tony Pollard | TEN
- Kenny Gainwell | TB
- Jonathon Brooks | CAR
- Jacory Croskey-Merritt | WAS
- MarShawn Lloyd | GB
- Rico Dowdle | PIT
- Blake Corum | LAR
- Jordan Mason | MIN
Check the full position group on PFN's 2026 PPR Running Back Board.
