Greg Olsen

Greg Olsen just wanted some clarity, to know where he stood with the Bears.

The 31st pick in the 2007 NFL draft, he had improved his catches, yards and touchdowns in each of his first three seasons, and some projected him as a breakout player in 2010.

Many speculated Olsen wouldn’t be an ideal fit under new offensive coordinator Mike Martz, who traditionally hadn’t used a tight end much. But everyone played nice through a 2010 season in which the Bears won the NFC North and reached the conference title game, even though Olsen’s production dipped across the board.

Olsen, 26, has not played defense since his All-American days at Wayne Hills High School, but that’s where the NFLPA found itself, shortly after the professional football world was led to believe all of these labor problems were solved.

As has been suggested league-wide, Olsen remains confident a deal will be reached sooner rather than later, even if the fallout from Thursday’s power play soured many.

The expectation is a new collective bargaining agreement will be worked out “in a matter of days, not weeks,” Olsen said, although he believes the players should take their time before signing on the dotted line.

“We’re being asked to sign a 400-page document that will determine the future of the league for the next 10 years,” Olsen said. “Just because the owners think it’s a fair deal — and maybe it is fair, I can’t say for sure it isn’t — but we probably should read it completely before we sign it.”

In many ways, other than the league’s 32 NFLPA representatives for each team, Olsen and the rest received much of their information from various sources Thursday.

It’s not that the players are uninformed – the details just get out a whole lot faster than they can be delivered conventionally nowadays

But Olsen is thrilled to be headed to Carolina, where he’ll reunite with former Miami teammate Jon Beason and former Miami offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski.

‘‘To get back with Coach Chud, and what he’s done in the past, with tight ends, is going to be huge for my development,’’ Olsen said, ‘‘and I’m looking forward to it.’’

Chudzinski coached two of the game’s most talented tight ends, Kellen Winslow and Antonio Gates.

Asked about his role, Olsen said, ‘‘It’s hard to say. But his track record of using guys is pretty clear, and that’s encouraging. Now it falls on my shoulders on how I perform. To be honest, I think it’s a way to finally get out of the restraints of what our system was.’’

Still, he’ll never forget the last two days, when he was holed up in a dorm room at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, waiting to hear about his future.

‘‘It was weird, because you’re sitting around your dorm, with nothing to do,” he said. “But I’m glad I can move on and go forward.