CHARLOTTE — Against the long wall in Jonathan Cooley's living room is a modern display of a timeless plight: the ability to balance creative passions and steadfast commitments, all-consuming fixations, and a tactical approach.

It's a shoe display, filled with just a fraction of the somewhere between 150 and 200 pairs of shoes Cooley estimates he has. There are versions of Jordans 1-19, Kobes, Lebrons, sometimes the same design, just in different colors: "I have some that just keep them for when the time's right, but I try to wear."

The display is built around a centerpiece, a token from the greatest achievement in his career, a replica of the Lombardi Troophy from his Super Bowl win with the Rams.

It's a snapshot of the Panthers defensive passing game coordinator's life: a creative muscle that must be stretched, juxtaposed with a complete commitment to football, the obsession becoming the nucleus of everything he does.

"He's a true definition of, like, you don't know what Cooley could do," posed corner Mike Jackson. "He might be into fashion; he might be into cars. But you get him in a room, put him on a board; he's smart, smart."

Jonathan Cooley is the son of a professor, "so I kind of get the teaching gene from her," he figures. He began his college career at John Carroll as an accounting major before switching to finance, but "I don't know if I could consistently get up, get myself out of bed to (be a stockbroker) every day."

But the analytical part of his mind appreciated the "sameness," the chaos that could still result in an absolute, like a puzzle where he had to figure out the end result and work backward. It's a lot like how a film junkie watches game tape. And Jonathan Cooley is a film junkie.

"One semester going in, I took two summer classes, so I could only take 12 credit hours during the fall, and then my plan was to watch film during the three credit hour class," he admits. "So, just giving myself time to study and figure out those those things."

But to quote Mike Jackson again, "You don't know what Cooley could do," and while the finance background laid a foundation that still exists to this day, it was far from the whole makeup of Cooley.

"It's funny because I identify as a creative," he laughs.

That presents itself in the form of the shoe wall, a collector's dream that leans on an appreciation of the artistic value in design. It comes to light in fashion and a willingness to take risks to express oneself. And it exists in a dream that he dabbles in even now.

"A couple of dreams I have is like, music could be cool or on the side I would love an Apple Music channel because I make playlists. That would be cool to me, like a playlist a month.

"You know, I think (artists and repertoire) would be something; I'm very good at curating a selection as far as like technical ordering, so basically, A&R, you help put together an album."

While all those traits and interests are part and parcel of who Jonathan Cooley is, it's never the whole picture. They all satisfy a part of who he hopes to be. The only thing to ever truly engage the whole of who he was, is, and will be, is football. The sport takes his passion for the game, one he played for years, and combines it with the ability to tap into both sides of his brain.

"I definitely have a clinical mind because I'm a math person, so I'm always looking for formulas and how I can apply something and we can create sameness so I definitely have an analytical mind," Cooley explains. "But the creativity comes from, like, OK, how do I translate how I see it for these guys to be able to understand it?

"Lately, you're able to think more outside of the box."

The result is a defensive backs room unlike many have sat in.

Of the five defensive backs who were interviewed for this story, all begin by asserting how smart their defensive passing game coordinator is and how he can marry that intelligence with passion. But perhaps it's Chau Smith-Wade who said it best.

"Jonathan Cooley is going to coach his ass off. He's going to coach his ass off like he's one of those guys that is completely invested in his craft, and you could see it day in and day out," began Smith-Wade, in what became a short but heartfelt pronouncement on behalf of his coach. "Like you see it on his face when he's talking about ball; he's almost like insane with it, to the point he loves it so much you would think that he's crazy, like for real you're looking at—I'm dead serious, he's so invested into his craft and football like his capacity for football is out of this world.

"I've never met a coach with a football capacity the same as his, his passion or his understanding. And he makes it so simple. He gives the information to you so simple."

It was a feeling echoed not only by other young players but veterans as well.

"He's just got a way with words and making confusing or complex stuff seem real simple. He breaks the game down to the simplest form for you and gives you the ability to play fast," agreed Jaycee Horn. "Just like formation recognition and eliminating certain plays, you know you aren't going to get certain routes and playing it a different way than you would because you know you're only getting these certain routes."

Added Jackson: "I can honestly say he kind of took my game to the next level last year because a lot of stuff that I already knew, he…made me believe in it even more."

Horn and Jackson finished the regular season leading all corner duos in the NFL with 30 combined pass breakups.

There's an intentionality born of his math background, an ability to teach courtesy of his mother, and a creativity in how it's all presented—and how he connects with his players—that is natural. It all adds up to a coach that Mike Jackson knows he has for only a short time.

"He approaches the game like a true pro, and you don't hear that on the coaching side; you just hear that mainly on the player side," says Jackson. "So he's not going to be here long. He's going to be a coordinator very, very soon, so I got to take advantage of it right here."

It's not hard to believe Jackson when he says it. Dave Canales—in addition to joining Cooley for 5:30 a.m. hot yoga sessions last season—had the then secondary coach call the defensive plays for a half during a preseason game.

There's a peaceful contentment in Cooley's demeanor, someone happy to be where he's at and soak up every morsel he can wherever that place may be. But there's also an underlying tension vibrating, an excitement that this is only the beginning, that his coaching career is still in its infancy.

And an assuredness that whatever he does in life, on the field or off, creatively, logistically, and passionately, will feed into the football coach and maybe manifests itself in a bigger shoe wall to hold another Super Bowl trophy.

"I want to see how far I go in football," says Cooley. "I was told to dream big."