Olsen not ready to be phased out of Panthers' offense

Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen suddenly finds himself as the elder statesman in an increasingly youthful positional group.

The Panthers finished last season with Olsen, Ed Dickson, and Scott Simonson on the roster. However, after a busy offseason, the Panthers have added five tight ends through the draft and undrafted free agents.

Despite the Panthers looking to add more youth to the position, the 31-year-old Olsen doesn't envision himself relinquishing his role as the team's top tight end anytime soon.

"The reality is I'm not 25 anymore," Olsen said Wednesday, according to Bill Voth of blackandbluereview.com. "But I'm also going to make it hard for these young guys to take time away from me. I don't anticipate slowing down anytime soon. I anticipate playing for a good number of years remaining."

Olsen is under contract through the 2018 season and showed no signs of decline last campaign. On the contrary, he remained one of the league's elite weapons, catching 77 passes for a career-best 1,104 yards and seven touchdowns.

"Our meeting room's not very big. So we had to pull in some extra cafeteria chairs today to get everybody in the room for the install.

"Maybe it's the phase-out of Greg Olsen," he joked.

The Panthers' decision to add more depth at the position makes sense. While Olsen remains highly productive, Dickson had the second-most catches at the position last season with 17. In order to preserve Olsen, Carolina needs to find some other viable options that can lessen his workload.

"It's a position of need right now in the NFL. It's kind of an in-vogue position. I think everybody's trying to find the next guy," Olsen said.