Nick Scott softened his free agent stance after seeing the Carolina Panthers sign Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd.
Nick Scott knew he had to re-sign with the Carolina Panthers after the front office signed Jaelan Phillips and Devin Lloyd, per The Athletic.
Scott said he softened his free agent stance after seeing the Panthers sign Phillips and Lloyd.
“As those signings were happening, I was still a free agent and playing a little hard to get. But once I saw those guys rolling it, I was talking to my agent like, ‘Hold on, man. Maybe let’s go ahead and reach back out to the Panthers. It looks like it could be a fun season, a good defense,’” Scott said with a laugh. “That was exciting to see those guys. It definitely motivated me and my decision to come back here.”
The Panthers won the NFC South last season and made the playoffs. They lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round.
Scott re-signed with the Panthers on a one-year, $2 million deal after finishing with a career-high 111 tackles in 2025.
“So just seeing guys like Devin and Jaelan get picked up, I can only imagine how his wheels are turning. You see what he did with Tre Moehrig. That to me is indicative of a guy that knows the game, a guy that knows his players and knows how to put them in positions to be successful,” said Scott.
The Panthers, under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, run a base 3-4 defense. Phillips isn't worried about adjusting his game to a new defensive scheme.
"I've played a lot in 3-4s," said Phillips. "I definitely can say that I'm versatile in the sense that I can get down to the 3 (technique), I can play the edge. I can walk out in coverage. I can drop back to the inside backer if I need to. I've done a lot of things in a lot of different defenses.
"I think that's kind of one of the fortunate things that I've had different coordinators with different teams, different position coaches, stuff like that. So, I've had a lot of experience and been involved in a lot of different systems, so I think that I can definitely contribute in that sense of just being versatile and allowing the defense to be able to be multiple because you don't have to worry about my position."
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