CHARLOTTE — From the moment he took over as general manager here, Dan Morgan made it clear — he was looking for some dawgs.
You know, alphas, tough guys, the leaders of their respective packs.
But as it turns out, two of the biggest, as well as the GM himself, happen also to be cat guys.
"Honestly, most people like to talk crap about cat owners, but I'm not going for it," Jaelan Phillips said flatly. "I don't tolerate cat slander."
Phillips was the star of the free agent class for the Panthers, a massive 6-foot-5, 266-pounder (who looks bigger in person), seemingly built to wreck quarterbacks.
But when he gets home to his Ragdoll cats Pat and Bean, it's clear that a man can contain multitudes.
"If you really, like, get to know a cat, they're super, super intelligent and just loving," Phillips said. "I mean, I love cats. I'm not afraid to say it either. People always make fun of me for it, but I don't care."
Phillips' cats Pat and Bean are frankly adorable, and certainly have their own personalities, and they also aren't the only small creatures in the house.
Phillips and his fiancée welcomed a son named Shiloh this offseason, and Dad was hoping that would make for some great family photos, but Pat and Bean had their own ideas.
"I thought they'd be more interested in him, but they're not really bothered at all," Phillips said. "Like they rarely come up there like, because I'll see like Instagram videos where, like, oh, it's a newborn and the cat's sleeping in a cradle and stuff, and I was like, Oh my God, this is gonna be so cute because they're going to love the baby.
"They couldn't care less. They're literally just wandering around the house. They just want food, honestly. They want food and cuddles."
Don't we all?
Of course, that doesn't always align with the perception held by some, who think cat people might not fit in the macho world of a locker room.
Of course, it helps when you're Phillips' size, but he's not the only big guy around here with a cat fancy. His fellow pass-rusher, Nic Scourton, has a pair of cats at home, and not just any cats.
Scourton lives with (Owns is a tricky word, can one really own a cat?) a pair, and is considering more after first learning about life as a cat guy in college when his roommate brought one home.
"Never really was able to own a dog because my parents didn't like dogs, but I always wanted a pet," Scourton said. "And the cats, they kind of took care of themselves while I was at practice. And then, people say cats don't got no personality, they don't got no souls, but my cat had a hell of a personality."
Scourton opened a theological door there that requires more discussion, but since he's clearly thought a lot about this, it's worth asking what a cat's personality is like.
"A cat doesn't need affection," Scourton said. "Like he's not going to come begging me for affection, but when he does want love, he's cuddly and super lovey-dovey and stuff. They're kind of just like us in the sense that they're going to do their own thing. Then, when it's time for them to get some love, they want to come. But my cats are super sweet."
They're also super-sized.
Scourton has Maine Coons, a breed that can get to 30 pounds or more.
"They're just chubby, and they love to go outside," Scourton explained. "They're similar to dogs in the sense that they love to play outside. They eat a lot, and they poop a lot, and they sleep a lot, but, like I said, they're so cuddly and cute. I love them so much."
He has two now, and is considering adding to the family that currently includes JR and Xena — "She is a warrior princess," Scourton beamed. "She is my fat girl."
But some in the locker room will still roll their eyes, and the prejudice still exists in a world conditioned to give football players canine descriptors. They've all heard it, including from teams at the combine who will ask pseudo-psychological questions like "Are you a cat or a dog?" to try to learn something about a prospect.
"Man, people know what I am," Scourton said. "So you can be a dawg and a cat. People act like there ain't lions in the world. And tigers. But we're not talking about tabbies all day, we're talking about lions and tigers."
The good news is that their boss understands, because he has multiple cats at home, some of which even have hair.
Dan Morgan's daughters will bring home stray cats and nurse them back to health, so he's used to a constant parade of creatures in his home.
Growing up, he had a big Chow Chow dog, he had birds, and guinea pigs around the house. Now, he lives with a French bulldog named Otis, which is a whole other story. "Crazy, just insane," Morgan said, and anyone who's experienced a Frenchie will simply nod because they know. "I mean, it'll hear a noise, and you'll think somebody's broken our house with a freaking hatchet."
But the cats are warming up to him, it seems, at least one of them.
Among the Morgan menagerie is a hairless cat named Gus, whose appearance can take people off guard.
"I pulled up to the house one time, and that thing was sitting in the window," Morgan's chief of staff, Matthew "Los" Delgado, said. "Scared the hell out of me."
And while it's not a conventional cat — "He does kind of look like ET," Morgan admitted — he also has the ability to grow on people.
"I never even heard of it until they brought it home, and then I was like, what?" Morgan laughed. "Thing's kind of cool though."
It took a little getting used to, what with the complete absence of hair. The GM described Gus as "oily" and "kind of itchy" when they first met, and suggested his daughters go wash it. But just like his pass-rushers, he also found a friend when he was home alone with Gus over spring break, when it was just him and the animals in the house.
"I was home alone, and the kids and my wife were gone, and this thing became my best friend," Morgan said. "Like rubbing all up on me. Half the time, it won't let me touch him. He only did that when nobody else was around to touch him.
"Then once everybody came back, it was like, OK, look at him."
And even though Otis the Frenchie might be "insane, . . . seriously, just insane," he's found a partnership with Gus.
"The hairless cat and my French bulldog, they get along," Morgan said. "They play together."
And that's where Morgan the GM sees the whole field, and can overlook the long-held football bias against cats. He knows, he understands, and sees the value in a having a cat guy in a dog-dominated world.
And the fact that his two starting pass-rushers — guys who are built for and tasked with hunting, pouncing, and dropping prey — turned out to be cat guys should be considered no accident.
After all, he's the general manager of the Carolina Panthers.
"There should be no stigma about this anymore," Phillips deadpanned. "We're the Panthers, man. We're literally cats."
