CHARLOTTE — Nick Scott sat down for this interview while holding his baby daughter.

"This is Noa," boasts the proud dad. "Three months old; she's a big girl."

It wasn't long before she heard her mom's voice across the room and made it known where she'd like to be, but within a minute, it was her older brother crawling into the seat next to Scott, showing off his panther roar and doing his best to distract his dad, a living picture of a draw to stay in one spot.

"It has been fun, watching him turn into a big brother and whatnot, when he's your only one, and then he kind of transforms into having a little sister," said Scott.

"I think one of the toughest things that people don't realize in the NFL is change, right, or lack of consistency because it's a job that requires so much consistency, but when your environment is constantly changing, it's hard to kind of match that consistency on the field which I've learned, the hard way just in moving around a couple of years. But super happy to be here, happy I don't have to move my family again."

But the whole time, whether his daughter is cooing or crying or his son is tempting gravity in a high-back chair, Scott attends to them carefully while never losing focus on his breakdown of the Panthers' defense and special teams unit this coming season.

It's the kind of focus that has made Scott such a leader on special teams and in the locker room, even serving as a game captain twice last year, and one of the reasons the Panthers wanted the free agent back for another season.

"I think it means for everybody it's going to be a little bit of an increase of a leadership role for guys that have been here, just kind of showing guys the ropes," explained Scott

"(Head coach Dave) Canales has only been here one year, but the guys who have been with him know what to expect. We know his coaching style and what we're trying to do here, so just trying to get guys on the same page as fast as possible is only gonna help us.

"I really feel like this team, this culture is headed in the right direction, and as long as we have a few guys that kind of stick with it and can show everybody who's coming in how we want this thing to run, we'll be in good shape."

Scott returns to both a defense and special teams that has been largely rebuilt from the 2024 season. The former features a safety unit that currently has only three players on the roster: Scott, second-year undrafted player Demani Richardson, and recent free agent signing Tre'von Moehrig. With the departure of Xavier Woods and Jordan Fuller and Scott's four years of experience now in this defense (three years under Ejiro Evero with the Rams, then again last season), he knows this means he has to be the one to take charge.

"I think a lot of it is just communicating with one another and just learning together, committing to learning together and growing together," said Scott. "Obviously, we're going to start in a little bit of a different spot than we were last year with really only two guys on the roster right now that have played snaps in this defense before, which can be a little bit challenging in terms of communication, and most of that communication falls on us as the safeties.

"So just constant communication with Coach E and our safety coach and corners coach about where we're at, being honest about that, and making sure that wherever we are, we have the best product going out on the field.

"And, honestly, I feel like a good amount of that might fall on me, just being somebody who's played in this defense for multiple years, knows the verbiage, everything like that, so definitely we'll take the onus on that."

Adding Moehrig gave the Panthers a safety who picked up 104 tackles last season while with the Raiders. Heading into this offseason, Scott has appointed himself Moehrig's guide to help ensure he can repeat the performance, this time in a Panthers uniform.

"We brought in a safety who's extremely talented, and from what I can see, the best football he plays is when he can just go. And when you just go, it means you have an understanding. So the quickest I can help him get to that understanding of this defense, the faster we can watch him fly."

On special teams, the Panthers are bringing in a new punter, Sam Martin, and will be tasked with replacing multiple special teams aces, such as Lonnie Johnson and Feleipe Franks. Scott has seen a lot of special teams units over the years, having played 61.7 percent of the teams snaps in his career; he knows what makes a good one and, even more so, what makes a bad one.

The foundation in Charlotte is solid, Scott assures, and the pieces that will be added over the next few months don't need to feel obligated to imitate the 2024 coverage team. And as the de facto old head of the unit, he wants to issue a message to any incoming talent.

"Tracy is one of the best special teams coordinators out there, and he knows how to put guys in the position to be successful, so I'm excited about that.

But as for replacing Johnson and Franks, "it's definitely something that's crossed my mind.

"I'm super excited for those guys and the opportunity that they have because they played extremely well last year and were huge in terms of driving the ship and special teams and everything like that, so I want to give them their credit, but I would say, I mean my challenge to guys would be, don't try to be last year's unit.

"Let's be our own unit, whatever that looks like, and still make plays and get excited and all that stuff, but just have your own personality. We don't need anybody to be Feleipe Franks. Feleipe is Feleipe, and we love him for that," he said. "But whoever wants to step up and make plays, I don't care if somebody has 20 tackles in the season and they never celebrate one time because that's production, that's all we want when we're out there. We want production, we want smart plays, and we want the ball."

As Scott and his wife gathered their brood to head home for the day, it was with a much lighter step than when he stepped into the building at this time last year. At that point, he was on a one-year deal with a new coaching staff, a part of a team with a long way to go and mostly questions.

Now, his little family has grown, he's back in the same place for another year, the team started finding their footing down the stretch last season, and Nick Scott can feel confident in himself, this defense, this special teams unit, and this team.

"I've definitely seen a shift in this building," said Scott. "Just in my time from when I first came in here to where we were at the point of last season and was really excited to try and come back and be part of this.

"(There's) a seriousness and focus and a belief, and you didn't get the sense when we first walked in here—I'm talking way before, I'm talking this time last year—that there was a whole bunch of belief.

"But I really feel like the guys who are here now and the coaches believe that we can win games, that we can win our division first and foremost, and that we have the guys to do it, so I'm excited."