CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – The longest-tenured player in Carolina Panthers franchise history will be back for another year.
Long snapper JJ Jansen signed a contract for the 2026 season on Tuesday, the team announced.
The 40-year-old Jansen has played in 277 games through his first 17 seasons, which is by far the most in Panthers history. To put 277 games into perspective, that is more games than Cam Newton and Greg Olsen played for Carolina combined.
Including interim ones, Jansen has played under eight head coaches with the Panthers, and is the last remaining player from the team that played in Super Bowl 50.
He has also worked his way into the hearts of Panthers fans, becoming a favorite among them thanks to his endearing personality and “Cart Talk” YouTube segments.
Panthers special teams coordinator Tracy Smith was asked about Jansen’s future in Carolina during a Dec. 31 press conference.
“He can do this for as long as he wants … he’s everlasting,” Smith said of Jansen. “There’s no proof that he’s not a robot. Nobody knows that he is not AI. We’re just going to go for it for the end of time, as far as I’m concerned.”
Jansen was one of three permanent team captains in 2025, alongside Bryce Young and Derrick Brown.
“He’s doing a great job, [I’m] happy to have him,” Smith said during the same press conference. “He has embodied the captain role and taken it seriously and he really kind of makes his part of his daily mission to help his teammates any way he can.”
As for Smith’s take on the one-year deals Jansen has signed in recent seasons, he called such contracts “kind of the norm” for veteran long snappers in the NFL.
The 2013 Pro Bowler hasn’t been kept around for so long for no reason. He has not had a bad snap since 2010, granted bad snaps are not an officially tracked statistic.
JJ Jansen has played in more games than any other player in Panthers history.(Adam Hunger | AP)Click here for more Panthers coverage
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