Fantasy Football Impact: Jonathon Brooks' Injury Gets Slightly More Concerning
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After missing all of the 2025 season recovering from an ACL tear in 2024, headed into the 2026 season carolina Panthers RB Jonathon Brooks has been seen as a potential fantasy breakout candidate. However, the brakes have been pumped on that this week a bit, as Brooks has been a non- full participant at the Panthers' practice for the past two days: Tuesday, Sept. 1, and Wednesday, Sept. 2. He has worked to the side with trainers.
Jonathon Brooks Injury Update
Brooks has missed practice due to general soreness. Following an ACL tear that happened just last season that can be seen as fairly common. It is, however, concerning based on what the head coach of the Panthers, Dave Canales said regarding Brooks. "I'm very optimistic he'll be available for Week 1," Canales said Wednesday.
While the door is certainly open for Brooks to be available to play in Week 1, fantasy managers should still be worried. For one, Brooks a few days ago seemed to be a sure thing to be available in Week 1, and now that is not the case. Also, he is in the midst of an RB battle with Chuba Hubbard. Any time off the field, or even a reduced opportunity because of his injury, could give Hubbard an advantage in winning the bigger role in the Panthers’ backfield for the season.
Brooks' current ADP in PPR format in ESPN leagues is RB32, and in Sleeper Leagues it is RB36. Over the past seven days, his ADP has improved by 2.1 spots on a collective average of multiple fantasy platforms.
Fantasy Impact If Jonathon Brooks Misses Time
If Brooks misses time, the Panthers could still go to more of a split backfield. They have one of the better RB3’s in the NFL, with veteran AJ Dillon. Injuries have limited Dillon’s availability for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, but from 2023-2021 he was a great backup RB to prime Aaron Jones when they were both with the Green Bay Packers. Over that stretch, Dillon logged 600 or more rushing yards each season.
While that is a possibility, Dillon’s injuries have held him to just seven games in the past two seasons. He missed all of 2024 and played seven games with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025. With the Eagles, he had just 12 carries for 60 yards.
The more likely scenario is that Carolina just makes Hubbard their workhorse RB, sprinkling Dillon into short-yardage situations. Hubbard in 2023, when playing the RB1 role for Carolina, had 1,195 rushing yards and 11 TDs. In PPR fantasy formats, he ended up as RB13.
Hubbard did have a disappointing fantasy campaign in 2025, with now RB for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rico Dowdle, having a standout season. Hubbard last season had 511 rushing yards and four TDs. Dowdle had 1,076 yards and seven TDs. In PPR formats, Dowdle finished as RB16 and Hubbard finished as RB42.
Currently in PPR formats, Hubbard’s ADP in ESPN fantasy leagues is RB33, and in Sleeper leagues it is RB28. Averaged across multiple fantasy platforms over the last seven days, Hubbard’s ADP has dropped 1.3 spots.
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Gray Deyo is a Nashville-based sportswriter who graduated with a sports management bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has covered prep sports, college sports, the WNBA, and the NBA for the past four years. In addition to writing for SI, Gray also currently contributes to Prep Girls Hoops