An absolutely brutal break for the former 2024 second-round pick out of Texas, who has re-injured the same ACL that he tore late in the season in college. Not only is Brooks set to miss the remaining four games of the Panthers’ schedule this year, but the injury sets him on a similar course for 2025 as he entered this season. He could very well miss a majority of the 2025 season as he looks to make a recovery from his second-consecutive right ACL tear, and the unfortunate sequence of events for Brooks has shades of J.K. Dobbins’s injury saga. Brooks had seen his work increase from his first start to his second, but with him sidelined once again, Chuba Hubbard will reprise his role as the unquestioned RB1 atop Carolina’s backfield depth chart. It’s a role he earned with his strong play this season and in years prior, and his recent contract extension signed just a few short weeks ago solidifies his status as the Panthers’ workhorse in an upstart Panthers offense. Given that Carolina has been more than hanging around with some of the best competition the league has to offer (they took the Chiefs and Eagles down to the wire), Hubbard will continue to be a fringe RB1 start the rest of the way. Up next: a date with Dallas’ less-than-solid run defense on Sunday.