PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Eagles right guard Brandon Brooks says he's healthy and gearing up for the 2021 season. He is returning from a serious Achilles tendon injury that wiped out his 2020 campaign. It's the second such injury for the 31-year-old, and he sounded confident he will be the dominant force he was before.
"I think the biggest thing that everybody's forgetting is I've tore my Achilles before, and when I came back, I was the best. Period," Brooks said.
He was hurt while running, during the 2020 offseason, but it didn't deter the 6' 5", 335 lb. lineman.
Over the years, Brooks has been public about his anxiety. His perspective is very strong: Stuff happens.
"When it happened [last year], honestly, I just laughed. And people were like, 'Yo, why are you laughing? You just tore your Achilles again, or, your other one.' And I'm just like, 'It's life. Stuff happens.'
Having Brooks directly between center Jason Kelce and right tackle Lane Johnson, who is bouncing back from an ankle injury, will be huge for Nick Sirianni's Eagles if they stay healthy. The offensive line was a mess last season because of major injuries in 2020.
Brooks says he has no doubt that he and Johnson can regain their form. "As far as proving yourselves, what haven't we done?" he said.
However, despite the remarkable Super Bowl winning history of the right side of that line, Brooks was reportedly in trade discussions this off-season, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.
Brooks believes the noise, but he was not discouraged, acknowledging that professional football is a business, after all. But the one thing Brooks says he would have preferred was to not hear it first from his mother.
"Instead of hearing it from my mom — my mom being like, 'Hey, where are we going?' — it'd be nice to get a phone call, like, 'Hey, this is what's going on.'"
And if it turned out he was moved, he said, "I always felt like the biggest thing I would miss is the fans in the city, man."
But it didn't happen. He's an Eagle. And it would be great for the Birds to keep him on the right side of the offensive line, where Brooks says he will be the best "as long as I decide to."