Jonathon Brooks was the first running back selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, as the Carolina Panthers took him with the No. 46 overall pick in the second round.
Brooks may have been picked even sooner if he was healthy, but an injury he suffered in college limited him during the pre-draft process and has now sidelined him early in his rookie season. What is the latest on Brooks’ health, and is there a chance he plays in Week 4?
What is the Latest Injury Update on Jonathon Brooks?
No, Brooks won’t be playing in Carolina’s Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since the Panthers placed Brooks on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list to start the season, he must miss the first four games. The earliest that he’ll be eligible to return is Week 5.
Brooks is still recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered on Nov. 11, 2023, in Texas’ game against TCU. Prior to the injury, Brooks was extremely productive for the Longhorns, rushing for 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns in 10 games while also catching 25 passes for 286 yards and a touchdown.
After selecting Brooks, Panthers general manager and president of football operations Dan Morgan told reporters that he expected Brooks to be ready for training camp, but the 21-year-old never came close to hitting that timeline.
It’s worth noting that the Panthers’ brass waited until the final possible day to place Brooks on the NFI list, indicating that the team believed there was a chance he could be ready before the end of September. But they ultimately decided to sit him for the first four weeks.
INJURY TRACKER: Stay Up-To-Date on the Latest NFL Injuries
Brooks has yet to practice since joining the Panthers, and his timeline to return remains unclear. On Wednesday, Panthers head coach Dave Canales did offer a positive update, telling reporters that Brooks is nearing a return and in the final stages of his recovery.
Ideally, Brooks will be able to play in Week 5 or Week 6. But even if he makes his NFL debut in the next week or two, there’s no guarantee that Brooks will start or receive the most carries right away. The Panthers may ease him back and gradually increase his workload, leaning on their other running backs until Brooks is 100%.
Fantasy Outlook
With Brooks sidelined, the Panthers have been starting Chuba Hubbard (with Miles Sanders mixing in occasionally as well).
Hubbard has seen five targets in consecutive games, and if this offense is going to trend close to the league average, Hubbard’s status as an RB2 is reasonably safe. He carried the ball 21 times in the blowout win over the Las Vegas Raiders after recording just 20 touches in the first two games this season, a stretch that saw them outscored 73-13.
Hubbard’s production in 2024
- Eight quarters with Bryce Young: 90 yards and zero touchdowns
- Four quarters with Andy Dalton: 169 yards and one touchdown
The Bengals are on a short work week and are an offensive-oriented team. The way to beat such a team is to bloody its nose early and make it play your style.
Hubbard has a reasonable range of outcomes, but if Carolina can keep this score close, he’s a good bet to post top-20 numbers.
It wasn’t difficult to assume that the change under center in Carolina would result in improvement, but I don’t think anybody saw this team nearly tripling its scoring output from the first two weeks against the Raiders.
We saw it from the jump. Dalton completed passes to four different players in his first drive of the season, one capped with a Hubbard score. The Red Rifle has never been considered “elite,” but he now has two more games with 315+ passing yards and multiple passing scores than Joe Flacco despite having 33 fewer professional starts (Week 3 at Raiders: 319 passing yards with three passing touchdowns).
That’s great, and getting a vulnerable defense on a short work week is certainly a spot where a repeat performance is within the range of outcomes. I’m not projecting such a game, as there’s too much risk involved and it would mean benching either a far superior passing talent (Dak Prescott or Jordan Love) or an athlete built to break our game (Anthony Richardson or Justin Fields).
That said, you can feel just fine about plugging him in as a Superflex option. Dalton is a top-20 QB for me this week, putting him in the same tier as Brock Purdy and Aaron Rodgers. His passing profile is on par with those two when you factor in offensive creativity and projected game script.