Veteran guard Brooks retires; 3-time Pro Bowler thanks Eagles fans for their support
Brandon Brooks walked away from football Wednesday, but not his journey.
Voted the best right guard by his peers three straight years, including the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII championship season, Brooks vowed to be around to share his experience, strength, and hope with those afflicted with anxiety, which felled him twice in a 10-year career that began as a third-round pick of the Houston Texans.
That offer applies to teammates and the public, particularly the diehard Birds fans who reached out to him when he made the decision to go public with his anxiety after going through an attack during the 2016 season.
“It has always been a part of me, it will always be a part of me, it will always be something I deal with,” Brooks said during a lengthy Zoom press conference. “When it comes to that I just want to be known as a person who really just wanted to help others by sharing my story. I just want to give back and help them as much as it helped me.”
By the end of the presser, one in which Brooks fought through the emotional bonds he formed with offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and right tackle Lane Johnson, among others, with long pauses, the big guy was drained.
“How do you say goodbye to something you’ve known your whole life?” Brooks said in his opening remarks. “Something that taught you triumph, pain, success, failure, perseverance, and altruism? I don’t know but I’ll try my best.”
For Brooks, the bottom line was being healthy enough to play in just two games over the past two seasons due to a torn Achilles’ tendon and this year, a torn pectoral muscle. He joked that while 32 years old was young in the game of life, the same wasn’t true of football. Ultimately 2½ years of rehabbing injuries had taken a toll.
“I think my body was just telling me I had to make a decision,” Brooks said. “I think at this point in time it’s the right decision. The (O-line) room is in great hands. I think at this time it was best to step aside and let them do their thing.”
Brooks walked away from a lot of money. Loyal to the end, he restructured his contract to give the Eagles $12 million of salary cap room.
It never was completely about the money, though, as Brooks enjoyed playing on the same line with “larger-than-life” figure Jason Peters and functioning between center Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson for the bulk of six seasons.
Brooks became choked up just referencing the gettogether he had with Johnson after his locker room neighbor from the beginning left the team suddenly and mysteriously before a game this past season. Johnson was on his way to receive treatment for depression.
“I went over to his house, and we just sat there,” Brooks said. “Sometimes words aren’t necessarily needed. We sat there and … just reflected on life, the ups and downs, the struggles. It wasn’t a football conversation at that point. Just like he had my back, I wanted to have his.”
Johnson supported Brooks during the 2016 season when the guard outed himself along with his never-ending battle with anxiety. Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, one of several coaches referenced Wednesday by Brooks, along with Eagles players and Texans executives, coaches and players was another source of strength through the years.
“You took me from being a good player to being the best at my position,” Brooks said. “Just as you helped me on the field you helped me off. Through all my struggles and low moments, I could always count on a phone call from you, the topic never being about football but just life and how could you help. You are more than a coach … You are family and always will be.”
Stoutland, in remarks furnished by the Eagles, hailed Brooks as the ultimate competitor.
“Really, it’s the way he has been able to overcome adversity,” Stoutland said. “He has been dealt adversity time and time again. From anxiety to injuries it can break a person. But it didn’t break him. It made him stronger. It’s a lesson to everyone in that room, that building, the city.”
Brooks mentioned so many colleagues he considered family there isn’t enough room here to list them all. All the starting quarterbacks he helped protect – Carson Wentz, Super Bowl LII MVP Nick Foles and Jalen Hurts – were part of the package.
“Jeffrey Lurie, the Lurie family, Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson,” Brooks said. “You were always in my corner and will be family forever. Thank you for allowing me the honor of being an Eagle.”
The sentiment over Brooks’ retirement has just begun rolling in.
Eagles safety Rodney McLeod, one of the players Brooks mentioned in his retirement script tweeted “Hell of a career B!! You will be missed, and a legend forever in my eyes. It was a pleasure having you as a teammate for years here in Philly. We both came here in 2016 on a quest for a championship, and we did it! Wish you the best brother.”
Lurie tweeted that Brooks has been “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 for future conversations among athletes and role models everywhere,” Lurie said.
Brooks said he’s staying in the Philly area, and the immediate plan for the product of Miami (Ohio) is to apply to grad business school at Penn. Brooks encouraged his extended “family” to reach out; it helps him as much as it will help them.
“The City of Brotherly Love is just that – love,” Brooks said. “Since Day 1 you’ve had my back and supported me through the ups and downs by sending me love and support through my personal struggles. Y’all will always be family to me, and I couldn’t imagine finishing my career anywhere else. I will be an Eagle forever. Will always bleed green, and if I could leave you with anything it would be this – defeat is never fatal, victory is never final. It’s the courage that counts.”