Brandon Brooks (born August 19, 1989) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

for 10 seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the Miami RedHawks and was selected in the third round by the Texans in the

2012 NFL draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

. Brooks played four seasons with the Texans, including three as a starter. In 2016, he joined the Eagles in free agency. He played for six seasons with the team, winning Super Bowl LII and making three consecutive

Pro Bowls The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

from 2017 to 2019 in the process. He retired after missing 31 combined regular season games over the next two seasons due to injuries.

Early life

Brooks helped captain the Riverside University High School Tigers to an 11–2 record, a city championship and an appearance in the 2006 state semifinals and he was named all-state in 2006. He also played baseball and basketball.

College career

A four-year starter at Miami, Brooks was named second-team All-MAC (

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

) for each of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons, the last of which the RedHawks went 10–4 overall, winning the MAC championship and a postseason bowl game. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology.

Professional career

Houston Texans

In his rookie season, Brooks was inactive for the first 10 games before being used as a reserve for the final six games as well as two playoff games. In the 2013 season, he became a starter and remained there throughout his time with the Texans.

Philadelphia Eagles

On March 9, 2016, Brooks signed a five-year, $40 million contract with the

. He started 14 games at right guard in his first year in Philadelphia. On December 19, 2017, Brooks was named to his first Pro Bowl along with right tackle

Lane Johnson David Lane Johnson (born May 8, 1990) is an American football offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Eagles fourth overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Ok ...

after starting all 16 games at right guard. He could not play in the Pro Bowl because of his team advancing to the Super Bowl. Brooks would win his first Super Bowl when the Eagles defeated the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in Super Bowl LII by a score of 41–33. On December 17, 2018, Brooks was named to his second Pro Bowl. That season the Philadelphia Eagles went 9–7 and earned a wildcard spot. They defeated the Chicago Bears 16–15 in the wildcard round, then lost 20–14 to the New Orleans Saints in the divisional round. The loss was costly for Brooks, as he suffered a torn Achilles. He was able to return for the 2019 season, as he also incorporated Kung fu in his off-field training. Brooks signed a four-year, $54.2 million contract extension through the 2024 season with the Eagles on November 11, 2019. He was named to his third straight Pro Bowl on December 17, 2019. On December 29, 2019, Brooks suffered a dislocated shoulder in the last regular season game against the New York Giants, forcing him to miss the postseason. He was ranked 98th by his fellow players on the

NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 The NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 is the tenth season in the NFL Top 100 series. It premiered on July 26, 2020 and the final episode aired on July 29, 2020. It started later than in previous years, and the show was shown in 4 consecutive days instea ...

. On June 15, 2020, it was announced that Brooks tore his Achilles and would miss the upcoming 2020 season. He was placed on the active/

physically unable to perform list Physically unable to perform (PUP) is a roster designation used in the National Football League (NFL) for players who suffered injuries during football-related activities prior to the start of training camp. Players on the PUP list may participate ...

at the start of training camp on August 4, 2020, and placed on reserve/PUP at the start of the regular season on September 5. He began practicing with the team again on December 30, but the team did not activate him before the end of the season. In Week 2 of the 2021 season, Brooks suffered a pectoral strain and was placed on injured reserve on September 21, 2021. On January 26, 2022, Brooks announced his retirement from the NFL.

Personal life

Brooks was diagnosed with a stress-related

anxiety disorder Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders characterized by significant and uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear such that a person's social, occupational, and personal function are significantly impaired. Anxiety may cause physi ...

in 2016, which explained his vomit bouts only on game days, even after a stomach ulcer was treated. He is also a

Jiu-Jitsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdu ...

practitioner. He was the spring 2018 commencement speaker at his alma mater, Miami University. Brooks currently resides in

Medford, New Jersey Medford is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 24,497, an increase of 1,464 (+6.4%) from the 2010 census count of 23,033,Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and graduated with an MBA.

References

External links

*
Miami RedHawks bio

Houston Texans bio

Philadelphia Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Brandon 1989 births Living people Players of American football from Milwaukee American football offensive guards American football offensive tackles Miami RedHawks football players Houston Texans players Philadelphia Eagles players National Conference Pro Bowl players People from Medford, New Jersey American Wing Chun practitioners