ESPN is severely underestimating an electric play-maker set to rejoin the Carolina Panthers offense and his impact in 2026
The Carolina Panthers are eagerly awaiting the return of RB Jonathon Brooks and hoping his electric play-making ability can help carry the team’s rushing attack despite coming off two serious injuries.
The Carolina Panthers had a strong rushing attack during the 2025 season featuring Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle, even if head coach Dave Canales mismanaged the split in the backfield at times.
It was still a deadly ground attack that carried the offense and Panthers made a bold decision shaking that up by letting Dowdle walk in free agency. The only addition the team made after letting Dowdle out of the door was signing AJ Dillon, a veteran back that can bring a physical style of play.
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz isn’t optimistic about the Panthers backfield and listed running back as the team’s biggest roster hole coming out of the 2026 NFL Draft. However, he’s severely underestimating the return of one electric play-maker.
Carolina Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks already has some doubters ahead of 2026 return
Jonathon Brooks, the Panthers former second-round pick, is set to return to the offense in 2026 coming off a second ACL tear that forced him to miss the 2025 season. Brooks is getting close to being 100 percent and offered an encouraging update last week during his media availability.
“I’ve been cleared by my surgeon,” Brooks said last Tuesday. “(Panthers vice president of health and performance) Denny (Kellington) and the training staff and the coaches have a plan for me. And, you know, just going off what they tell me to do. And just taking it how it is, you know. Just getting better every day still — and yeah, I’m cleared to go. . .
“Obviously, it’s something that I have to work on, but yeah, I feel close to 100 percent. I’m getting there — still going with the plan they have for me.”
Since being drafted, Brooks has played just three regular season games for the Panthers in which he totaled nine carries for 22 yards. Explosiveness was a big part of Brooks’ game during his time at Texas, but that was before suffering two different ACL tears. Everyone will be eagerly awaiting his return at OTAs to see if that lightning still remains.
“I’m open to whatever he wants to bring, and I know what he looked like prior to the injury,” head coach Dave Canales said in late March. “I know what that player looks like, so I have that in the back of my mind. And that’s a vision that I hope he has too. And so that we can go and attack that. How do we get to a point where you can play your best, where you can be ready? And that’ll be our goal.”
If that electric play-making is still there, Brooks will be a perfect complement to Hubbard in a way Dowdle couldn’t while having Dillon as the bruiser back in short-yardage situations. That doesn’t sound like a roster hole to me, but it all depends on what kind of player the Panthers will get out of Brooks.
Everyone in and around the building understand the work he’s been putting in to come back and prove himself to this organization. People on the outside clearly forgot about this guy after not seeing him in so long.
“The fact that I got hurt again, that’s what I feel like at first angered me so much, cause I knew I had so much to show and to fix,” Brooks added. “I don’t have to prove to anyone — just prove to myself because I know my worth, I know what I can do. I not really worried about what others think.”