It’s official, another member of the Super Bowl 52 roster is hanging up the cleats.
If you haven’t already watched Brandon Brooks’ Press Conference from this morning, you can watch the full announcement and Q&A here
After speculation near the end of the season whether the 3x Pro-Bowl Right Guard would return for an 11th season. But after battling four grueling, season ending injuries in three years. It was time for Brooks to call it a career, and today was that day.
Having signed a five year deal in 2016 to join the Eagles, Brooks was able to mesh right into the Offensive Line between Jason Kelce & Lane Johnson, playing 989 offensive snaps and allowing only 1 sack in 14 regular season games. The stats continued the following years while Brooks was in Philly, playing all 16 regular season games from 2017-2019, including the 5 playoff games (barring most of the of the Week 17 game in 2019 and the following wildcard matchup) Brandon was successful in playing 3,493 offensive snaps and giving up a total of 3 sacks over the the 3 season sample.
Brandon’s injuries may have limited his time on the field, however that didn’t stop him from staying in shape and trying to get himself back on field as quickly as his body could recover. after tearing his right Achilles on January 13th 2019 during the divisional round loss to New Orleans, Brooks was back on the field for the Home Opener on September 8th 2019, with less than 9 full months of recovery for an injury that has a minimum 9-11 month timeline for professional athletes. Brooks was able to put more unstoppable numbers with the Eagles offensive line, one that saw Jason Peters and Lane Johnson miss several games, nothing nearly as comparable to the 2020 mess that saw the Eagles with 13 different starting offensive line combinations in 14 games. Until December 29th 2019 when Brooks suffered a shoulder-injury in the Week 17 matchup against the Giants.
Brooks was on track to play the 2020 season until June struck and Brandon tore his left Achilles, ending his 2020 season before Pre-Season had even gotten underway. The disappointing 2020 season didn’t help with Brooks loss on the offensive line, as other linemen also fell with season ending injuries, Lane Johnson also missed 9 games that season, another year where the Eagles were scrambling to put together a healthy offensive line (one that employed Jamon Brown) that was able to keep Quarterbacks Carson Wentz & Jalen Hurts inside of a clean pocket.
Brooks retirement announcement was bittersweet this afternoon, watching a man who wanted to continue and finish a longer career in Midnight Green, having signed an extension to stay with the Eagles through the 2024 season and even accepted contract restructures to work with the cap and to provide them with relief in the remaining years of his contract as he steps into retirement. You always hate to see one of the strongest players on your team go, however with injury after injury it’s hard to blame Brooks for wanting to keep himself healthy for the rest of his life, and hopefully we can see him on the sideline in the future still a part of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Thank you for everything you’ve done in Philly Brandon, from Eagles fans around the world, you’ll be missed on the Offensive Line.
Fly Eagles Fly
