CHARLOTTE — The smile on Miles Sanders face could be seen even through his helmet. He was grinning ear to ear and pointing emphatically at Jonathon Brooks in front of him. He wanted everyone to know, the Carolina Panthers second-round pick was there and ready.

With each cut Brooks made, every bit of burst he showcased with the ball in his hand, a bit of excitement seeped into the Panthers' Wednesday practice.

"I was happy to see him," quarterback Andy Dalton said after practice of Brooks. "For him, just being in the huddle, him getting comfortable hearing the play, doing the right thing. I'm excited to see what he's going to be able to do."

The rookie was suited up for his first practice as a Panther, taking snaps as part of his return from an ACL injury suffered in November of last season while at Texas. The Panthers have been cautious with Brooks' return to play, being careful not to push the young back, who has an opportunity to be a long-term producer.

"Just looking for the confidence," Canales said as to what indicators are that Brooks is ready to move to the active roster. "Looking for him to just play normal football. When we can see that happen and we see the comfort and confidence to play fast, then we know that he's ready to go."

It's an approach Brooks appreciated. He tore his ACL on November 11, 2023, and it's effectively a year-long recovery. It's a frame of time Brooks had to keep in mind while working to return to the field and remind himself that the long term is more important than the short.

"This is really a 12-month recovery for this injury. So, for me to be back in 11 months, it feels like I feel good," Brooks said on Wednesday, following his first practice. "I just say the progress that I've made from going back when I first heard it, I didn't know it was—obviously like everybody overreacts, but it seemed like I wasn't even going to be able to play a game.

"So just the progress of every phase that I've gotten through, being able to not plant, to now plant, knowing the plays out, running, loading and lifting and everything and doing it.

"Sometimes not everybody comes back as fast as the fans or anybody wants them to, you know what I mean? It's a process and people need to realize that it's not just a thing you come back from and then reinjure it because you rushed it."

While Wednesday was a lighter day in terms of work, for Brooks and the entire team, Thursday is on deck with a padded practice. It will be the first time in nearly a year that Brooks—in a position that receives more hits than arguably any other—takes on contact. Even after playing football all his life, there is a mental hurdle to overcome there, Brooks admitted.

"It's definitely— not strange because I've been doing it my whole life but it's a little—not nerve wracking, but just going from, like going to a new level and taking a lot of time off of the year, I wouldn't say I'm nervous," Brooks explained. "It's more so I want to be perfect in the sense that I'm kind of over thinking because I don't want to miss it.

However Brooks' body does end up reacting to the more physical day will determine how the timeline for his placement on the active roster unfolds. They have three weeks to practice him before they have to make a decision.

"It's certainly going to be week to week," Canales shared. "We have to be able to see him play comfortably at full speed. So that's goal number one. And really he checked all the boxes, we felt confident about getting him out there. So now it's like getting him a few runs full speed.

"Tomorrow will be padded up, see what he looks like in that mode. Friday, coming back with another good tempo practice. So, again, we just got to take it week to week and make sure that he's playing confidently."

Brooks was the first running back taken off the board in April, a testament to what he can do for a team. Six games into the season though, the Panthers are getting incredible production from their run game, spearheaded by Chuba Hubbard. The fourth-year back has posted three games with 100-plus yards from scrimmage, and a fourth that was just 5 yards shy. Hubbard has also become a threat in the passing game, pulling in 22 catches for 93 yards and a touchdown there.

Knowing that Hubbard and Sanders (41 touches, 169 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown) are keeping the machine moving has given Brooks peace of mind to focus fully on his recovery.

"It definitely felt really good, not having like the pressure of coming back," Brooks said. "Obviously, for me, I'm a football player, I'm competitive. I want to get out there and compete with my teammates and just try to get out there and show the load what I can do. But it's also like I said, it's a process, I can't get back out there and rush it and re-injure it and then set out a whole another year.

"I feel like I didn't need to rush it. I feel like the team was in good hands with the running game. So, I feel like I wanted to take my time and do what I could do."

For a year, Brooks has waited and worked to get back to this point, the game so close he can taste it. There are still some minor physical hurdles to overcome but drawing on lessons he's learned over the past 11 months, he won't rush them. Timing is everything.

"Truthfully, I'd say it's probably, it's a lot more mental than it is physically," Brooks said. "It's going out there knowing that my knee is good, trusting my knee, trusting that God healed my knee and is putting me back out there for a reason.

"You know, the time is right. It feels like it's right. The coaches believe it's right. It feels like a good time."