Brandon Brooks is the best guard in pro football, but like so many of us, he’s dealing with his own issues and on Sunday they were front and center. Brooks left Sunday’s loss to Seattle in the first half with what the team called an illness.
Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer initially reported that a recurrence of his anxiety was the reason for his departure and head coach Doug Pederson confirmed it during a Monday appearance on WIP.
“Yeah, it’s connected,” Pederson said on WIP, “I’ll just say this, I’m not going to get into a lot of detail with that. Because listen, this is a real-life issue. This is not a football issue with Brandon. This is a real-life issue that he has come out and publicly acknowledged and kind of sharing his story a few years back. It’s something that he’s dealing with each and every day of his life. You never really know what triggers it. We’re here to support him, we love him. It is unfortunate that it happened, but it’s something that he deals with every single day. We’re just going to continue to support him.”
Brooks has now confirmed it as well with this heartfelt post on social media.
— Brandon Brooks (@bbrooks_79) November 25, 2019
Brooks has been open about his issues for years, and he missed two games in 2016 because of his condition. He’s become the best guard in football and now the Eagles will wait to see if he’s healthy enough for this week’s game against the Dolphins.