If you’re someone that has played football or you follow football, then you’ve likely heard of the phrase, “next man up.” This phrase is typically used when there are injuries or a certain player is struggling on the team, implying that someone else will need to step up in their absence. In Nick Scott’s case, the young safety took the phrase to heart when he was thrust into the starting lineup during the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl run in 2021.
Despite only starting one game in his career prior to the playoffs, Scott knew he would be prepared to his bigger role thanks to the work he put in behind the scenes.
“When you go out into the world, you’re going to be part of a team. Teams are great, teamwork is great. You embrace your role on that team, but never settle for the role you have,” Scott told Peter King of NBC Sports. “When I got to the Rams, I know they were thinking of me as a special-teams player, but I was thinking of myself as more than that. No one saw the work I was putting in during the offseason when no one was looking. So when I finally got called on to start, I was ready. I knew I could do it.”
When the Rams selected Scott in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL draft out of Penn State, he was undoubtedly taken to be a special teams contributor. Scott was a standout special teams player at Penn State and Los Angeles knew he could make an immediate impact in that phase of the game.
But with injuries taking a toll on the team’s secondary during the postseason in 2021, Scott was inserted into the starting lineup. Scott would start in all four playoff games for the Rams, totaling 14 tackles, three pass breakups, and an interception en route to Los Angeles defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.
Even though Scott has been viewed as a depth player and a special teams ace for the Rams in recent years, the Penn State product’s confidence in himself never wavered.
