As a huge Chicago Bulls fan, but more specifically a Derrick Rose fan, I am consistently terror-stricken when an impact player on any of my sports teams suffers a torn ACL.
With advancements in medical techniques, we know it isn't the kiss of death for an athlete's career like it was in 2011. Yet tearing the same ACL twice in less than 13 months carries a burden strong enough to break a Nokia cell phone.
That’s why 22-year-old running back Jonathon Brooks has fallen out of favor with some Carolina Panthers fans.
After being drafted in the second round of the 2024 draft, Brooks has only touched the ball 12 times in two seasons. He was drafted while rehabbing an ACL tear he suffered as a junior at Texas in November of 2023. When he returned as a rookie, it was short-lived; he immediately re-tore the same ACL in December of 2024 against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jonathon Brooks' outlook might be more encouraging than Carolina Panthers fans think
Those major injuries seem like such an anomaly that a segment of fans immediately have soured on the draft selection.
Except it’s much more frequent than many fans will presume.
According to a study published in The National Library of Medicine, athletes under 25 who return to their sport have a 23 percent second-injury rate.
“Combined data indicate that nearly 1 in 4 young athletic patients who sustain an ACL injury and return to high-risk sport will go on to sustain another ACL injury at some point in their career, and they will likely sustain it early in the return-to-play period.”
Unfortunately, there are few studies on the risk of a third ACL tear after a re-revision due to its rarity. Still, to inject some “hopium” into this fan base, physical therapist Jeff Mueller offered interesting insight into what exactly went wrong with Brooks' rehab.
According to Mueller, there are some hints that Brooks' original graft didn’t take or was too lax. He reported that during his rehab, the backfield threat struggled to cut early, prolonging his recovery.
He struggled to progress through the next stages of his rehab. Eventually, this led to Brooks suffering a second tear requiring a revision graft in January of 2025.
Brooks' second surgery was performed by Neal ElAttrache, who has rebuilt the knees of Tom Brady and Joe Burrow and has an extensive history of revisions.
According to Mueller, ElAttrache performed a double-bundle technique, harvesting a graft from Brooks’ left patellar tendon and a strip of his IT Band. The double bundle technique significantly increases rotational stability of the knee, aiming for a robust and reliable reconstruction.
Mueller also highlighted that Brooks' surgery not being delayed signals that the tunnels from his previous reconstruction were healthy and he did not require any additional bone grafts. The most important part of his report was his outlook, which took into account all the information.
“Essentially, reading the tea leaves tells me that everything else except for the graft itself was still in good quality within his knee. Good sign for the future. I’m not viewing this situation as a typical “Player __ had TWO ACL tears, he’s cooked” situation. Rather, I’m viewing it as the first procedure failed, but the second procedure is significantly stronger and should allow him to return to form this time around.”
I’m no doctor, but I did witness Thomas Davis return from three ACL tears of his own with the Panthers.
Let's hope Brooks has the same good fortune from here on.
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