For Carolina Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks, the 2024 season was all about making moves. And according to his head coach, he took another on Sunday.
Dave Canales spoke to reporters this afternoon, less than 24 hours after his team's crushing overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The showed a little more of Brooks, the in his NFL debut last week.
Canales was asked about the rookie's performance this time.
“I thought it was a big step up from week one to week two in terms of his confidence,” he replied. “I saw him break a few tackles, finish runs aggressively, some of those things. So I was really happy with the way he just took another step.
“And that's all we're expecting – just week-to-week improvements, the daily improvements, just dialing into the protection plan, the runs, how we're trying to push the runs and things like that. And so another big step for Jonathon.”
Brooks was sidelined for the first 10 games of the season as he continued to recover from an injury . His first piece of in-game action came in to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he completed just two runs for seven yards in five offensive snaps.
The 21-year-old's workload rose to 15 snaps yesterday. Brooks had 18 rushing yards on six attempts and 23 receiving yards on three catches – including this impressive 18-yard gain:
JB kills the moves
📺: FOX
– Carolina Panthers (@Panthers)
Chuba Hubbard, the team's rushing leader, still handled the vast majority of duties in the backfield, recording 16 carries for 43 yards.
