In the end, the injuries became too much for Brandon Brooks.
Brooks didn’t know exactly when that moment came, but the Eagles’ right guard just knew it was time to retire after 10 seasons, which he announced on Wednesday.
Brooks’ announcement in a 40-minute press conference came after straight three Pro Bowl selections from 2017-19, but it also came after injuries limited the 32-year-old to just two games over the last two seasons.
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“I don’t want to say it was a moment of clarity,” Brooks said. “It was just, at what point do you listen to your body? It’s one thing to have an injury or two, one or two big injuries. But I’m having injury after injury, so at what point do I listen?”
Brooks’ career was about so much more, as he described in his opening statement. He thanked dozens of former teammates, coaches, and management with the Houston Texans, where he began his career, and with the Eagles, where he signed as a free agent in 2016.
That included cafeteria workers, trainers, and other “behind-the-scenes” people.
“How do you say goodbye to something you’ve known your whole life, something that taught you triumph, pain, success, failure, perseverance, love, empathy and altruism?” Brooks said. “I don’t know, but I’ll try my best.
It was reported Wednesday that the Eagles reworked Brooks’ contract for 2022, going from a salary cap hit of $19.7 million to $7.1 million, saving about $12 million.
But Brooks was known as much for his crushing blocks as he was for his struggles with a mental health illness.
It was Brooks, who late in the 2016 season, publicly admitted he was suffering from anxiety after he missed two straight games. The morning of those games, Brooks’ pregame vomiting left him so dehydrated that he had to be taken to the hospital.
Brooks left another game in the first quarter on Nov. 24, 2019, again because of anxiety. The week before, Brooks had signed a four-year extension worth as much as $56.4 million.
“I liken it to your hardest situation … that you go through in life,” Brooks said about the pressure to perform. “You’re in a fishbowl, so you got thousands and millions of people watching. As highly-paid athletes, we’re expected to be modern-day gladiators and not have any feelings.
“At the end of the day, we are human beings and we go through things just like other people do. For us, a lot of our stumbles, a lot of our falls, a lot of our ills are public.”
Brooks, of course, was always a confidant for Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson, who missed three games in October when he, too, dealt with anxiety and depression.
Brooks said he went to Johnson’s house when Johnson returned from his Oklahoma home.
“I really didn’t have to say anything at first,” Brooks said. “We just sat there. Sometimes, words aren’t necessarily needed …”
At this point, Brooks paused for about 15 seconds, choking back tears, before continuing:
“(We) really just reflected on life. The ups and downs. The struggles, the things we go through. It wasn’t even a football conversation at that point. Just like he had my back through the ups and downs, I wanted to have his when he had his struggles. That made our bond a lot closer, a lot stronger.”
In October, Johnson admitted that he and Brooks had been suffering together for years.
“A lot of stuff, when he was going through it, I understand,” Johnson said in October. “He was talking about how he puked every game day. I was right there with him at 5:30 (in the morning). He was probably the main guy that helped me with this situation.”
Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie, in a statement, called Brooks, “one of the most thoughtful and bravest athletes I have ever been around.
“Brandon’s willingness to openly discuss his own struggles with anxiety has served as an inspiration to so many, and helped open the door for future conversations among athletes and role models everywhere.”
On the field, Brooks had few peers as a right guard.
For years, Brooks and Johnson anchored the right side of the offensive line, with Jason Kelce at center and Jason Peters at left tackle. All four have made multiple Pro Bowls. The Eagles’ line was often considered among the best in the NFL.
The line was the impetus for the Eagles’ Super Bowl run in 2017. And Brooks, who was only in his second season with the Eagles then, soon realized how much that championship meant to the region’s fans.
“You hear that a lot, but to see people dump their grandmother’s or grandfather’s ashes out (along the parade route),” Brooks said. “A guy came up to me the other day, his mom’s mom had passed, and for 3 hours on (Super Bowl) Sunday, he said it was like nothing else mattered.
“We gave them that much joy watching it. It’s things like that. Those memories I’ll always have.”
But injuries began to take their toll.
Brooks tore his Achilles in the Eagles’ playoff loss to the Saints in Jan. 2019. Incredibly, he made it back to start the 2019 season. Brooks played in every game and was named to his third straight Pro Bowl.
Brooks separated his shoulder in the regular-season finale that season and had surgery. Brooks was well on his way to recovering in June of 2020, when he tore his other Achilles while running by himself at the NovaCare Complex.
Brooks missed the entire season. Last spring, Brooks said he laughed when he suffered that injury.
“People were like, ‘Why are you laughing? You just tore your Achilles,’” he said then. “I’m like, ‘It’s life. It happens.’ … I’ve been down this road. I know what to expect.”
Brooks recovered from that, too, returning for training camp last summer. He started the first two games this season before suffering a pectoral muscle injury.
The injury was expected to take 7-8 weeks to heal. But it became apparent that Brooks wasn’t going to return as the regular-season wound down.
“Can I still play? The answer is yes,” Brooks said. “But the answer is also, at this point, can I hold up? … I think my body was just telling me that I had to make a decision. At this point in time, it’s the right decision.”
So Brooks said he will move on to a future in business and finance. Brooks had internships in finance during past offseasons, and hopes to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s business school.
Brooks added that he considers Philadelphia his home, and will continue to be active in the community.
“I can tell you what I’m going to miss the most, going out there and playing at the Linc on Sundays,” he said. “And number two, the locker room. It’s a unique set of guys and personalities. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what your circumstances are, what your race is.
“At the end of the day, it’s whether you can play football or not.”
Brooks could, like few others.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
