Panthers designate Brooks (core) to return from IR

Canales said the oft-injured Brooks still has “some things to clear recovery-wise” but noted that he could still have his practice window opened this week. Brooks suffered a core muscle injury in Week 2 against the Falcons and handled just 11 touches in his first two games of the year. Given his injury history, it’s hard to know how close he could truly be to dressing on game day, but even when he does return, we would still expect Chuba Hubbard to handle the majority of touches given how efficient he has been this season. In addition to Brooks, Canales said the team is also weighing when to open the return window for Xavier Legette, who has been sidelined since Week 2 with a knee injury.

Brooks will be sidelined for at least six weeks. It opens the door for Chuba Hubbard to dominate the Carolina backfield for the next month and a half, with AJ Dillon chipping in as a breather back. Through two game Hubbard leads the Panthers backfield with 22 rushes for 102 yards. He’s run a route on 50 percent of the team’s drop backs and have five targets. The Panthers, meanwhile, have the second highest pass rate over expected through Week 2. Hubbard will be a locked-in top-20 option going forward. Dillon can be stashed in case Hubbard gets dinged up while Brooks is recovering.

He’s undergoing tests to determine the severity. That’s not normally the sort of story that ends with “and Brooks played a full allotment of snaps in Week 3,” but we’ll see. The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero reports that Brooks is “considered week to week.” Brooks should be regarded as a drop candidate in shallow leagues on snaps and opportunities alone, but if he’s not healthy, that may expand to more leagues.

The good news is that this is unrelated to Brooks’ history of knee injuries and it sounds like he has a shot at suiting up for Week 3. The bad news is that Brooks originally suffered this groin injury during training camp and is still dealing with it two weeks into the season. Brooks only had five carries and one catch before exiting Week 2’s win over Atlanta. Even if he is healthy for next week’s game, Brooks is barely on the fantasy radar right now.

Brooks went down on a routine tackle in the fourth quarter and was slow to get up. He eventually left for the locker room with a towel over his head. Brooks missed time late in training camp with the groin issue and it seemingly flared up against the Falcons. He had five carries for 16 yards before leaving the game. AJ Dillon will back up Chuba Hubbard if Brooks is unavailable for Week 3.

In his first regular season action, Brooks played well behind lead back Chuba Hubbard, who finished the day with ten carries and three receptions. The highlight of Brooks’ day came on a sideline throw from Bryce Young that went for 48 yards. Brooks, coming off multiple major knee injuries, showed impressive burst and speed on the catch and run. That Hubbard was the team’s primary option inside the ten yard line is bad news for Brooks’ touchdown upside in the Carolina offense. For now he profiles as a bench stash in case Hubbard misses time this season.

Brooks missed time late in camp with “general soreness” that was later revealed to be a minor groin issue. He was limited in practice this week, but that seems like nothing more than maintenance for a player who has barely played football over the past two seasons. Dave Canales is understandably keeping his workload light, even in practice. Brooks is expected to split carries with Chuba Hubbard in Week 1. He will be a high-risk FLEX play before we know what his role looks like.

We’ll have a better sense of Brooks’ Week 1 availability in a few hours when the Panthers release their final injury report for the week, but the third-year back logged limited practices on Wednesday and Thursday and is trending in the right direction for Sunday’s game against the Bears. If he’s active, Brooks is expected to split touches with Chuba Hubbard, which could put a hard cap on both players’ upside in the season-opener.

Now we know what Brooks has been dealing with for the past week or so. Beginning the week with a limited session is a good sign regarding his Week 1 availability, but obviously we hope to see him practice fully as soon as possible, given his extensive injury history. He could end up rotating in behind RB Chuba Hubbard if active.

Head coach Dave Canales declined to provide an update on Brooks’ status Monday after saying last week that he was “very optimistic” that Brooks would play in Week 1 against the Bears. The Panthers won’t release their first official injury report until Wednesday, which should give us a better idea of where things stand for Brooks in the season opener. The 23-year-old back has had a strong training camp and is expected to split work with Chuba Hubbard if active. Both RBs should be viewed in the RB3 range for Week 1 if active.