CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen learned as a rookie there really is such a thing as a Super Bowl hangover for the losing team.

In 2007, Olsen was a first-round pick by the Chicago Bears, coming off a loss to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI.

Starting quarterback Rex Grossman and most of the starters on offense and defense were back from a team that went 13-3 during the 2006 the regular season.

Greg Olsen's message to the Panthers: Don't assume you're a title contender because of last season's 15-1 regular season. "Things guys have to understand is you don't pick up where you left off," he said. Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports

Olsen thought he’d fallen into the ideal situation.

"I ... came in thinking this is going to be great," Olsen recalled. "We’re just going to find ourselves back in the same position. ... And we didn’t make the playoffs.

"So that’s reality. We’ve got to understand that you’re not entitled to anything in this game. They don’t just [say] the Panthers had a great year last year, let’s just pencil them in. That’s not how this game works."

Olsen made these comments on Monday as the reigning NFC champions began offseason workouts, the first time players had been together since two days after a 24-10 loss to Manning and Denver in Super Bowl 50.

His message was clear. Take nothing for granted. What happened last season when Carolina had an NFL-best 15-1 regular-season record means nothing.

It’s that type of leadership that could help Carolina from falling into the same old pattern of Super Bowl losers.

Not since the 1993 Buffalo Bills has a team made it back to the title game after losing the previous year.

"The biggest message and things guys have to understand is you don’t pick up where you left off," Olsen said. “We don’t just assume we’re going got play Week 1 like we did Week 16 last year.

"There was a lot of work that went in even before we hit the field [for training camp at] Spartanburg last year that allowed us to be in a position to win a stretch of games."

Getting past the mental hangover isn’t easy as evidenced by the long list of wreckage from past Super Bowl losing teams. Olsen will attest to that.

It took him two weeks just to get past the immediate disappointment of losing to Denver.

But he’s refocused and ready to go. He understands what he and his teammates do now will play a part in whether they succeed in September when the games begin.

He’s able to do this because of what he experienced as a rookie, and he doesn’t mind sharing it to drive the message home.

"Overconfidence and thinking you’ve arrived has ruined a lot of lives in the NFL," Olsen said. "Guys that aren’t willing to continue to work, and try to continue to get better, are going to find themselves on the way out fast."

Linebacker Thomas Davis agreed.

"We start from ground zero," he said. "We know just because we made it to the Super Bowl last year doesn’t mean we’re going to come in and be the NFC favorites to be back.

"We know we have to put the work in. We know what it takes. We feel like we have the opportunity to be a much better team."

Like the 2007 Bears, the Panthers return their starting quarterback in Cam Newton and most of the other starters on offense and defense.

Some already are calling them the most complete team in the NFL.

Expectations are high. The Panthers aren’t going to be able to play the underdog card as they often did last season.

"You always hear about the Super Bowl hangover," Olsen said. "That’s real. Teams that lose the Super Bowl struggle. History shows. You have to fight that. You have to fight human nature and you just have to continue to move forward and pretend things never happened."

And, as he reminded over and over, that has to start now.

"I’m a firm believer, both individually and collectively as a team, the second you think you’ve arrived, you’ve got it, you’re done," Olsen said. “I’ve seen that play out on an individual basis my whole career.

"I don’t want to see that happen to us this year collectively as a team."