“As a competitor and as a veteran player, you don’t ever want to go into a season just admitting defeat,’’ he said. “Knowing that we’re part of a rebuild right now and that it’s going to take a little bit of time, you do want to temper your expectations and make sure that you keep that in the back of your mind, but at the same time you still have to go out there and compete. Who’s to say that we don’t get a good young group of guys that really don’t know any better and end up surprising some people.”