CHARLOTTE – Greg Olsen is confident that if healthy, he still has the ability to play tight end at a highly productive level. He's also confident that once he rehabs from the latest surgery on his right foot, he will be 100 percent healthy.

So it stands to reason that Olsen is confident that he'll continue his career with the Panthers next season, right?

"I still enjoy playing. I still know I can play," Olsen said Wednesday. "But that decision is not always up to me."

And if the decision is up to Olsen, who is under contract through the 2020 season, he may still have some soul-searching to do.

"At my age, there are always things to weigh. There were things to weigh last year," said Olsen, who will turn 34 in March. "But as I told you last year, I believed in my heart, and I still believe in my heart, that other than this little bone in my foot, I've shown that I can be pretty good."

Olsen had surgery two weeks ago to repair an injury that cost him nine games in 2017 and seven more this season. He had the foot surgically repaired last season with a procedure that allowed him to heal enough to return from injured reserve. This year after re-injuring it in Week 1, he didn't require surgery and returned after a three-game absence.

He injured the foot again on December 2, and Olsen said his second surgery two weeks ago was "the full deal" with more time to rehab at his disposal.

"Every guy I've talked to that has had this second follow-up, it kind of fixes it for good," Olsen said.

But do the Panthers share his confidence? Do they wonder that even if Olsen is fully healthy, time has caught up to him beyond his foot?

"I believe he has good football left and can help us," head coach Ron Rivera said Wednesday. "It's just him being healthy. We'll see what happens."