Philadelphia Eagles: Brandon Brooks deserves nothing but respect

By owning up to his issues and removing the stigma surrounding mental health, Brandon Brooks has become one of the Philadelphia Eagles’ biggest role models.

Anxiety is the worst.

That feeling of insurmountable dread washing over your body, leaving it in an almost submerged state. The unease, the worry, the panic, it’s enough to keep you up at night – and then in bed for far longer than what is culturally acceptable.

And yet, despite that debilitating fear, Brandon Brooks remains among the best people in the world at what he does.

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Is he always perfect? No, the soon-to-be All-Pro right guard missed the majority of the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Week 12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks for that very reason, but could you even imagine walking out onto the field of the Linc, on national television, with the season on the line, and having an anxiety attack in front of tens of thousands of eyes?

Lord, the very thought gives me anxiety.

So when I logged into Twitter to check the fanbase’s temperature when news broke as to why Brooks left the eventual loss, my hopes were far from high. With Philadelphia fans – Eagles fans specifically – notorious for their brutal, unforgiving nature, I justifiably assumed that dudes with front-facing double-chin selfies would be railing on the 30-year-old for his ‘lack of heart’.

But you know what they say about assumptions.

Sure, some fans gave the eighth-year pro flack for his absence – despite said absence having very little impact on the final score – but for the most part, I was taken aback by just how supportive the vast majority of sports fans were to Mr. Brooks’ plight – sports fans, not just fans in the 215.

Whether using Brooks’ experience to validate their own, or simply wishing the big man a speedy recovery, it felt like the Grinch-y fans that once threw snowballs at Santa Claus saw their hearts grow three sizes when it comes to mental health issues.

And according to Brooks himself, who is neither ashamed or embarrassed by his absence, these well wishes have not gone “unnoticed”.

If anything, Brooks should be lauded for his openness.

Much like Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan before him – albeit in basketball – having an uber-successful professional athlete not only survive but thrive while suffering through at times debilitating anxiety is frankly inspiring and makes Brooks one of the (quite literally) biggest role models in professional sports.

Despite suffering through near-constant nausea and spells of vomiting, Brooks has consistently ranked among the top performers according to Pro Football Focus week-in and week-out regardless of position. Brooks has been rewarded for these performances, made all the more impressive when you consider he tore his Achilles in the divisional round of the 2018 playoffs back in January, with a four-year, $54.2 million deal that makes him the highest-paid guard in the NFL.

I don’t know about you, but Brooks very well might be my favorite Eagles player, and someone I will forever respect.

Look, while it may seem easy, blogging his emotionally taxing. Finding interesting angles to write about all the while receiving virtually no praise can start to feel hopeless real quick, especially as the industry becomes more and more compact. While I have my own dreams and aspirations – I studied screenwriting at UCLA and plan to move to Los Angeles before the end of the calendar year to pursue a career in the industry – attempting to scale such great heights without proper footing can feel all but impossible.

But hey, if Brandon Brooks do it, why can’t I? And for that matter, why can’t you?

Next. See you next year, Jordan Matthews. dark

So regardless of who lines up at right guard against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13, not that it really matters, it’s safe to say Brandon Brooks’ presence will be felt with the Philadelphia Eagles for a long, long time. To paraphrase Lizzo ‘If you can love Brandon Brooks, you can love yourself’.

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