GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Julius Peppers doesn’t know how much longer he’ll play football, but the Green Bay Packers veteran outside linebacker can promise you this: He will not make any this-is-my-last-year pronouncements before the 2016 season kicks off and go on a farewell tour.

“Not to say anything bad about anybody who does it. People handle it in different ways,” the 36-year-old Peppers said this week as he began his 15th training camp. “I just prefer to take it day-by-day, game-by-game, season-by-season and make that decision when it’s time.”

And if the Packers stick to what appears to be their plan for Peppers this season -- although no one has been willing to actually flat-out say it this week -- he might have several more years in him.

“There comes a time when you can’t play as much,” Peppers admitted. “You can’t play as many plays; you can’t exert yourself so much -- especially at this time of the year.

“Sometimes you have to protect players from themselves.”

Even as Peppers and coach Mike McCarthy did their best to avoid straight answers about the team’s plans for him, the circumstantial evidence through two days of training camp is hard to ignore: It appears the Packers intend to use Peppers more judiciously this season, perhaps limiting him to sub packages where he’ll be rushing quarterbacks more and absorbing the wear-and-tear of setting the edge against the run less.

“I’m not saying that’s what they were thinking,” Peppers said with a smirk. “[But] one could say that would be the logical line of thinking.”

In each of the first two practices, it’s been Clay Matthews and 2012 first-round pick Nick Perry lining up at outside linebacker with the No. 1 base defense. As was the case during the offseason program, Peppers has gotten most of his work in the nickel package.

Add to that two offseason moves -- re-signing Perry to a one-year contract and moving 2013 first-round pick Datone Jones from defensive line to outside linebacker full time -- made to add depth at Peppers’ “elephant” outside linebacker position, and it all points to a less-is-more approach with the man who's registered 141.5 sacks in his career.

“It’s a good thought,” McCarthy replied Wednesday morning when asked about such a scenario. “[But] we’re in the training camp phase of this season. You really have to get through the install and play the games, and however the 53-man roster shakes out, that’s when you make those decisions. Hopefully we are in that position.”

You can’t blame McCarthy for not giving a definitive answer; since signing Peppers in March 2014 after he was released by the Chicago Bears, the Packers have tried to reduce his snap counts, with limited success.

Peppers arrived in Green Bay having averaged 912 snaps per seasons during his final four years in Chicago, his playing time percentage never dipping below 74.6 percent. (He played 88.5 percent of the Bears’ defensive snaps in 2010). The Packers coaches said their snap-count target was lower than that, but Peppers wound up playing 920 snaps in 2014 (including playoffs), or 74.0 percent.

Last year, Peppers played 115 fewer snaps (805), putting him at 66.3 percent of the overall defensive snaps, and they successfully reduced the number of snaps he played against the run dramatically. Still, Peppers still was on the field more than the coaches had planned.

“I actually brought it up to them last year. We’ve been going in this direction for two years now, so it’s just a thing where we’ve been having an open dialogue back and forth,” Peppers explained. “[The coaches ask], ‘How do you feel?’ [I say], ‘I feel good.’ [They say], ‘What do you think about playing a little less?’ [I say], ‘Sure.’

“It’s not only to save myself; it’s two-sided. I’m going to be 37 at the end of the season. These guys are going to be here a lot longer. We need to see what we’ve got. We need to see. So there’s a lot of dynamics going on, and it’s just how this thing works. I think it’s the right play, I think we’re doing it the right way.

Playing in all 36 of the Packers’ games (including playoffs) the past two years, Peppers has recorded 21 sacks, intercepted two passes, forced 10 fumbles and recovered three more. Of Peppers’ 11.5 sacks last season, 5.5 came in the season’s first eight games; six came in the final eight regular-season games and playoffs.

“We think Julius can really give us some things, as you saw last year,” defensive coordinator Dom Capers said. “But you've got to be cautious not to overplay Julius because we want to be at our best when our best is needed.”

If the coaches succeed in doing that this season, Peppers -- whose three-year deal with the Packers expires after the season -- could have more football in this future.

“That’s the thing. You talk about these things, but do you actually end up getting it done?” Peppers said. “And we didn’t. We didn’t get it done [in previous years]. So we had to look at it and say, ‘How are we going to get it done?’ I think we’re headed in the right direction with Nick playing more and with Datone being added to the group. It kind of balances the thing out.”