CHARLOTTE — Nick Scott has never lacked in confidence.

Back in OTAs, he was asked about his role here, and he said flatly, "I'm one of the best special teams players in the league."

Since then, he's been far more to the Panthers, more than even he imagined was possible this year.

So this week, after starting 17 games on defense and setting a new career high in tackles, Scott was asked if he anticipated all this was within his reach.

"I did not know that," Scott said with a laugh. "They told me I was coming back to try to make the roster. And I just had to kind of swallow my pride and trust God, and I felt like this is a place where God was telling me that I was supposed to be.

"So I put my pride aside, came back, just tried to have fun, work hard, lead, and you know, it played out the way it played out."

It played out better than he imagined, or perhaps anyone else.

Being a safety is often a thankless job, because as the guy in the back of the defense, you end up collateral damage in other people's highlight reels, whether it was your fault or not. And Scott was on the wrong side of some of those last year, and then they drafted Lathan Ransom in the fourth round this year, and a lot of people assumed Scott was going back to his old roles, as personal protector on the punt team, or spot starts when people got hurt. And once people make up their mind about you, it tends to stay made.

But Ransom was quick with a response when asked if Scott was having a better season than people give him credit for.

"Facts," Ransom replied. "Nick is a great football player."

That's not a conversation a lot of people are prepared to hear, but the people who see him every day are quick to his defense.

"He goes out there and makes a bunch of plays every Saturday," Ransom said. "He's also been a mentor, a guy who, when I have questions about the defense or how to go about the league, he answers all of them. Yeah, he's been great for me.

"If I need help with something, he's going to go out of his way to make sure I understand it."

That's the kind of thing people might expect from veteran players, but rookies can't always count on it, especially with a guy who plays the same position. This is still a business, and not everyone is selfless with their information. But Scott has been since he got here.

Second-year nickel Chau Smith-Wade has also experienced it and, likewise, vouches for Scott's willingness to teach.

"Nick is one of those glue guys," Smith-Wade said. "He's well known in the system. He brings comfort to the room; he's an old head. He's very good with the young players that come in, a very smart guy when it comes to scheme. He brings it all together."

That's no surprise for Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who coached Scott with the Rams, and advocated signing him here two years ago after an unfortunate year in Cincinnati.

"I have a lot of affection for Nick," Evero said. "I was his position coach when we drafted him, and we're going from a guy that played just special teams, and no one really thought it would amount to being an NFL-caliber starter, and he was able to start for us in the Super Bowl and was instrumental in that entire playoff run.

"I have a lot of respect for what he's done just because it started off difficult, being a bottom of the roster guy who's able to achieve success, he got a good contract, and then all of a sudden, facing adversity. And it just every time he faces adversity and faces a difficult situation, he responds, and so that's what I'm most happy about for him and what I respect the most about him."

That's why Evero trusts Scott to communicate in the secondary, to make sure everyone's on the same page, so the pieces fit together.

"He's easy to talk to, he's kind of like a Swiss Army knife in terms of being social with different people," Smith-Wade said. "Like, he can be social with a guy that you can't get a word out of; he kind of just brings it out of you. That's from a social aspect, but also from a football aspect.

"He makes you comfortable to be able to talk to him about the scheme. Like a lot of young guys coming in, they don't want to ask a coach a question about something. You can go to Nick and ask him about anything; he'll know the whole scheme."

That energy he brings is evident, as you can often hear Scott above other voices, see him dancing, see him celebrating, bringing others in. Special teams coordinator Tracy Smith, who isn't seeing as much of Scott this year because he's a regular on defense (just 75 special teams snaps this year, after 172 last year), likes it whenever he's around.

"Nick is the spirit of the team in a lot of ways," Smith said. "He's very energetic, gets the guys going, loves to be in any type of leadership role, and brings his happiness to that situation. When he pops back up, you can always tell, like, OK, Nick's involved this week because he's popping around and he's getting the guys going.

"He's just shown leadership qualities in the consistency of the effort and enthusiasm he brings week to week. It's infectious in a way that there's other guys like, OK, let's get going, also, Nick's showing up again, that kind of thing."

He's also been a part of what Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford referred to this week as one of the best secondaries in the league. And it was Scott that snapped Stafford's streak of 28 touchdowns without an interception, when he was in the right place at the right time when Derrick Brown deflected a pass in his direction.

It would be easy to chalk it up to good fortune, but again, Scott has 109 tackles this year, so he's been around the ball.

Cornerback Mike Jackson, who had a pick-six against the Rams after Scott broke the seal on Stafford, said it's frustrating listening to fans talk about defensive backs, because it's hard for them to see the full picture from television.

"When it comes to the secondary, they don't know; like there's been times where they call me the worst corner in the league," Jackson said. "That comes with playing the position. There are times when it was on me, but Nick made the tackle, so it just looked like it's on Nick, you get me?

And Jackson has more experience than a lot of these guys, so he has a respect for what Scott's doing on a down-in, down-out basis.

"One, he's the oldest dude in the room, and on top of that, he got a (Super) Bowl," Jackson said. "He's balling, though. Like, I feel like people just don't know. When people don't know, they just blame those they don't know."

Scott's only 30. That's not that old.

"DB-wise, that's old," Smith-Wade said.

"He's not like Philip Rivers, but he's 30, you know," Jackson said. "Literally, he's the oldest one in the room."

But that has also manifested itself as wisdom, and beyond just knowing how to play this scheme, he's playing it. He also has a perspective on this role that others might not share.

"Talk and tackle, that's all I'm here to do," Scott said, soft-pedaling a role that has only grown as the season continues.

He admitted he wasn't sure whether to believe he'd stay in this spot, but once training camp rolled around, and he was still taking all the work with the starters, he began to realize the job was his to lose. And he hasn't lost it.

"Going through camp and just running with the ones from the beginning and never really losing that role throughout camp," he said. "Just continually trying to be right, make plays, make the correct calls, be on my stuff, and just build trust with my teammates and the staff."

And through it all, there's been some bit of satisfaction for him, for being in a place where people might not have expected him to be — in the playoffs, or still in the starting lineup.

Asked if he's ever tempted to remind people that he's actually good at this, Scott just grinned.

"Yeah, for sure," he replied. "That's how I felt for a long time. I felt like that since 2023, but obviously, the Bengals felt otherwise. So here I am. . . .

"There are definitely times where I want to do that, but I just try to give all the credit and glory to God. And you know I've done a lot of prayer and grown spiritually in my faith a lot this year, and you know I don't believe he put me in a position that I'm in to tell people, 'I told you so.' I think he did that so I could point people's eyes towards him. So that's what I try to do."