The Green Bay Packers may have reached the NFC Championship Game last year, but the lack of a Lombardi Trophy or even a Super Bowl berth had to have rankled quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers is set to embark on his 11th NFL season, chasing his second Super Bowl championship. He has five years remaining on his recent $110 million extension and is likely well aware that his quest for football glory can't last forever.
Thus Rodgers, now 31, is eyeing big things for a Packers team returning all of their offensive starters from last year's NFC Championship Game run in 2015.
"I think the talent is definitely there," Rodgers said recently, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. "But just like last year, you've got to see how the team comes together."
With Packers GM Ted Thompson having brought back versatile weapon Randall Cobb and perennially underrated lineman Bryan Bulaga, the offensive unit in Green Bay - one that averaged 30.4 points per game, the top total in the league - should be just as electrifying this season.
In fact, to hear Rodgers tell it, they may be even better, thanks to the development of a couple of young guys who only scratched the surface of their potential last year.
"I like the young talent," he said. "It's always interesting to see how the guys take the jump from Year 1 to Year 2 and Year 2 to Year 3. We've seen guys in the past make some huge jumps. I'm excited offensively about Corey Linsley in Year 2 after he played so well last year, and Davante after he showed some flashes. He's had a real good offseason, so I'm excited to see what he can do his second year in the offense."
Adams, Thompson's second-round pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, recorded 38 receptions for 446 yards and three touchdowns last year. He's a big-bodied guy who can high-point the ball and potentially add another dimension to a Packers receiving corps that already boasts a swiss army knife in Cobb and a de facto No. 1 in Jordy Nelson.
Linsley was a fifth-round pick by Thompson last year and looks set to take the reins full-time at center for Rodgers. Linsley may never wow anyone with his athleticism, but if he can hone his technique, he's the type of cerebral center that can help Rodgers make checks at the line and alter protections.
While Rodgers' main concern will likely always lie with the offense, as the quarterback, he really is the leader of the entire team. As such, Rodgers saw good things out of Dom Capers' group last year and seems excited over the potential shown by several young players on the Packers defensive unit as well.
"Defensively, we've got some guys. Ha Ha played real strong for us. Great open-field tackler," Rodgers said. "Made some plays in the Seattle game, so it will be interesting to see how he does coming back and more comfortable in his role. We've got some young guys in the secondary that we have to assimilate quickly. Sam Barrington, looking for him to make a jump as he gets more playing time and a bigger leadership role. And then you always look at the guys who are coming into contract years because you'd expect them to play pretty well. So it will be interesting to see how those guys respond."
In the end, Rodgers, like every NFL player and every NFL quarterback, has his sights set on the Super Bowl. He won't guarantee one and provide bulletin board material for other teams or fodder for the media - wink, wink - but it'd be silly to suggest he's not going into this offseason expecting to reach and win another Super Bowl. To do otherwise would simply amount to giving up before the season has even begun.
Still, Rodgers said he wouldn't give consideration to the notion that he may never win one again, saying only that he's trying to avoid that outcome and wants to "get back there as quick as possible and win another one."
