CHARLOTTE — Patrick Jones II walked out of the building on Thursday the same way he always does. He slipped onto a waiting golf cart, rode through the Keep Pounding tunnel, and up to the Carolina Panthers' practice field for the first day of training camp. He grabbed his helmet, stepped onto the grass, and stopped short.

For the past eight months, Jones has toiled, rehabbing, wondering how long it would take to get back here, to this place. And once it was real, emotions took over.

"When I first came back out here, I damn near almost cried," Jones admitted Friday, sharing the details of his 2025 injury and rehab publicly for the first time.

"I went on the ground, took a knee, and started crying because stuff like that, when it gets taken from you, you think it's gone. It really hurt, man. It really did."

A back injury ended Jones' season ahead in mid-October. Leading into the Week 4 game against Dallas, the outside linebacker could tell something wasn't right. He thought he could push through but "unfortunately things happened in the game and then it kind of made it worse. Then, after that it was just, it was hard; really, really, really hard."

Doctors found a herniated disc, a piece of which had broken off and was affecting the nerves around it, causing issues with his leg.

"So my leg kind of went," shrugged Jones, miming the numbness that took over.

Last season was supposed to be Jones' first year with a new team after four years in Minnesota, then signing with Carolina last spring as a free agent. He joined DJ Wonnum, and the two were set to be the starting pass-rushers. Through the first four games, Jones had nine tackles, two quarterback hits, 1.0 sack, and one pass defensed.

"I was in Minnesota for a long time behind a lot of great players in most of my career, so it felt like last year was like my chance to really, really show everybody, and I felt like when I started to heat up, that happened," recalled Jones. "So it kind of hit me at a hard time."

At the time, it seemed as if everything had fallen apart. Goals went unmet, challenges shifted. The season Jones had dreamt of for so long wasn't meant to be. He had to completely realign his view of the 2025 season. Now, in hindsight, he knows it was something that needed to happen.

"I've always been the type to look adversity in the face and then tell it, 'I'm going to conquer you.' Maybe the thoughts crept in a little bit, but when they did, I just knew it was the devil, so I knew that God had big plans for me. So I knew that I would come back," Jones said. "It was probably the biggest blessing that ever happened to me when I think about it.

"It was the biggest blessing for me because it showed me who was there for me. It really showed me who was really there for me, who I really had in my circle, and the people who were there for me; it made them closer to me. It just made me really appreciate them and everybody like that. And then it just really helped me build my relationship with God.

"It gave me a chance to really build myself up better mentally and physically. I feel like I'm the strongest I can be right now. So it just gave me time to really work on myself."

Despite having only been with the Panthers for a few months at that time, Jones also found purpose in walking through the door of Bank of America Stadium every day.

"When I would come in here, all the guys, they'd be cracking jokes, and it just made me feel so much better, and I started looking forward to waking up in the morning and getting up and coming in here and being around my team," reminisced Jones. "Even Coach AC (Carter), all the other coaches, just seeing everybody smiling, it made me feel better, lifted my spirits."

He took advantage of the time on the sidelines, playing the game mentally, resulting in a better appreciation of everything happening from snap to whistle. "My football IQ is probably the highest it's ever been," he shared, "just because I literally had to sit back and watch for a whole year. So I learned so much."

On game day, Jones would be one of the first in the building. He'd spend two to three hours working out to "get the pain off me." And on the field, he found comfort and purpose in how Nic Scourton was playing.

"I would love to come to the games because I felt like Nic, when he was doing good, I was trying my best just to help him and to pour everything I had into him," reflected Jones. "So when I saw how good Nic was doing, it just truly made me feel good. So I would always be at the games just trying to support him."

Stepping in for Jones, the rookie had a team-high 5.0 sacks (tied with Derrick Brown) and 47 tackles, along with a forced fumble. On Thursday, towards the end of the Panthers' first training camp practice of the 2026 season, Scourton went down with what turned out to be a torn ACL in his right knee.

It is a different injury from which Jones had to rehab, on a different timeline, at different points in their career. But the two have become extremely close, even vacationing together in Hawaii (along with Jaelan Phillips) this offseason, and all the emotions Jones went through the last eight months surfaced again, watching his friend and teammate be carted off.

"Me personally, I know how that feels last year, especially when you feel like you're about to have a big year and then something like that happens," offered Jones. "So all you can really do is just be there for him and just really just help him out as much as you can."

But trials and pain conquered by one serve as a roadmap for another. Jones knows what it takes now to get through the dark times, the down days, and the lonely rehab process. And as a voice that Scourton trusts in the locker room, the veteran Jones will be there for the second-year outside linebacker over the coming months.

"I actually just talked to him," Jones shared Friday afternoon. "I told him, 'Bro, pretty much this is the time, the main thing you got to focus on right now, this is time you got to take (for) you.'

"I told him, 'When you're down right now, you got to take this time (for) you. You got to make sure your leg gets back right. You got to build yourself up internally first and then make sure your mind's right, and then you got to get yourself physically back, and you really just got to lean on God.'"

The opening days of training camp are an exciting time. Teams are starting fresh, with nothing but possibility in front of them. The first two days of this camp, though, have been an emotional ride for Pat Jones. For himself, for Scourton, for his team. He was emotional when he took the field Thursday, emotional when he left, and emotional again on Friday, recounting it all.

But every bit of that emotion was a reminder to Jones how important this was to him. So, he embraced it all, knowing it meant a better day was on the horizon.

"It's definitely a long journey. It's really, really hard," he nodded. "A lot of dark times, but just leaning on God definitely got me through. So it feels good to be out here. It gives me a brand new perspective on the game. I just appreciate it a lot more."