CHARLOTTE — How do you quantify wisdom?

How would one begin to create an algorithm to calculate the infinite possibilities that happen during an NFL game, and one person's ability to compute them all in real time?

And even if you believed in momentum — which not everyone does — how would you explain someone getting faster as they age?

Since we live in an analytics world, and since JJ Jansen loves the science of numbers and sports so much (he even has the T-shirt in Oakland Athletics' script), the best place to start is probably the big numbers — 277 and 40.

For the venerable Panthers long snapper — and yes, venerable is just a euphemism for old — those numbers only tell part of the story, and can't fully explain his continued impact and the ways he impresses and impacts his younger teammates — which is all of them.

When he takes the field Sunday against the Bears, he will add to his franchise record for games played with his 278th (tying him for 26th in league history), and become just the third player in franchise history to play a game after his 40th birthday (along with Vinny Testaverde and John Kasay, his mentor whose house he bought a few years ago).

But that doesn't define JJ Jansen, any more than his chronological age can. Because JJ Jansen — a man who throws a ball upside down between his legs with accuracy, six or seven times a game for 17 years at a time — contains multitudes. He is an enigma, a mystery even to those closest to him, which you can tell by asking them how old he actually is.

"I'm going to go ahead and guess 41," rookie linebacker Jackson Kuwatch said, off by one. "Oh no, I apologize."

"What is he, 42, 39 maybe?" 27-year-old linebacker Devin Lloyd said. "I took the over."

"He's dad-aged," outside linebacker Thomas Incoom, also 27, said. (This is true, four times over.)

"I'd say about 48, pushing 50," 31-year-old wide receiver David Moore cracked. "Maybe 37 or 38? That's wild."

"Like 39? I know there's jokes, but what is this Year 18? He's been doing this since '09," 27-year-old linebacker Claudin Cherelus said. "In 2009, I was probably in fourth grade, I wasn't even watching NFL football in 2009, I thought I'm going to the NBA or something.

"I'm not even thinking about it, and he's already in the league."

"He's older than me, I know that," said 37-year-old defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley.

But whatever the number, the signs of it aren't as evident, whether it's his commitment to fashion, his haircut, or the fact he's actually a faster runner than he was five years ago, when he was a mere child of 35.

"I mean, I know he's 40, but he acts like a rookie," punter Sam Martin, at 36, the closest thing Jansen has to a peer in the locker room, said.

"He's pretty young," 26-year-old kicker Ryan Fitzgerald said. "I mean, he has so much energy. I think the six cups of coffee helps every day."

"I think JJ is an anomaly in how he looks for his age — an anomaly," 28-year-old tight end Feleipe Franks, a middle-aged man by NFL standards, affirmed.

That's largely because of his fitness level, as the baby fat he was carrying when he was traded here in 2009 is long gone. He's even ratcheted that up in recent years, and it's not a coincidence he had a point to prove after the team used a sixth-round pick on a snapper in 2021, a now-27-year-old who never played in an NFL game (Jansen has played 85 since).

The Panthers are a data-driven organization. Every player is GPS-monitored every day, so they can determine top speed, ground covered, and exertion rates. And since what gets measured tends to improve, Jansen's GPS numbers have done a curious thing.

Even among elite athletes, there comes an age when you simply can't jump as high or lift as many weights as when you were younger. Even Michael Jordan had to lay it up at a certain point. Time is undefeated that way. But with Jansen, a funny thing happened. He's still hitting 19 mph and is consistently in the high 18s — on foot, not a Harris Teeter motorized scooter or anything. On a roster of top athletes, the 240-pound 40-year old is definitely not the slowest.

Every Thursday in practice, he runs additional sprints and does acceleration work. And his top speeds in 2026 are no slower (and sometimes faster) than they were in 2021. If old-man strength is real, then so is the power of spite.

But maybe it's the hair, which he actually started paying attention to a few years ago.

"I remember seeing pictures of him over the years whenever he had that buzz cut; it made him look a little older," Fitzgerald said. "Now he has like the good clean cut, a little beard. I don't know if he colors his beard or not, but there's no gray in it.

"Yeah, he's a young 40."

But 40 he remains, and that makes him a mathematical outlier in the NFL.

Since the 1970 merger, only 68 players have appeared in an NFL regular-season game after their 40th birthday.

Twelve of those have done it since 2020, as longevity becomes (slightly) more common, especially at quarterback and the special teams spots.

That group is led by quarterbacks Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Flacco, along with kickers Matt Prater, Nick Folk, and Robbie Gould, punter Andy Lee (a former Panther and Jansen teammate), tight end Marcedes Lewis, and tackles Andrew Whitworth and Jason Peters.

As many as five more could join the list in Week 1. With the 49ers playing Thursday night in Australia, long snapper Jon Weeks will become the 69th. Jansen (born Jan. 20, 1986), Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell (Sept. 1, 1986), and Titans long snapper Morgan Cox (Apr. 26, 1986)  all play in the early Sunday window, along with Bengals third quarterback Josh Johnson (May 15, 1986), who is behind Joe Burrow and Flacco on the depth chart and is the least likely to take a snap this week.

Call it a tie for the final spot in the 70 Since '70 club.

But to hang around that long isn't just an achievement of longevity. You have to add something to the mix, and in the unforgiving world of numbers, you have to produce.

"I think it gives me a sense of comfort and confidence," Fitzgerald said of working with Jansen. "Just because you always know what you're going to get with him. You know his snaps are going to be in a certain area, certain vicinity, where the laces are.

"That and just having him in our room, our specialist room, just all the knowledge, obviously and all the experiences he's had, it makes all our lives easier."

But beyond the strict definition of his job description, Jansen takes on a lot of responsibility. That's why head coach Dave Canales consults with Jansen on issues like clock management, the intricacies of rules, and the fine details of the game.

Cherelus, who lines up at guard next to Jansen on the punt team, called his elder "a situational master."

"Once he's done, he will have no problem being a coach in the league; he's probably damn near that the same year he's playing," Cherelus said. "Every meeting whenever we talk situations, he's got all the answers, and people joke that JJ always, he likes to talk. He's always got something to say, but he knows.

"One day on the side, I'm like how do you remember? How do you know all this stuff? And it was crazy, because all the rule changes from to the next year. He knew that stuff too. The craziest part, though, is not even just punting. He knows the kickoff rules, kick return rules, you know, stuff like that where he technically doesn't have to be tuned in because he's not snapping, but it's crazy. Just how easy he makes it for me seeing everything, stuff that we try to alert him on, he's already on it. If there's movement, he knows, if there's miscommunication, he's on it.

"The best part about playing with JJ makes it easier for everybody."

Franks, another of the core special teamers, just laughed when asked if he recalled a time Jansen tuned him into something others would have missed.

"Yes, I can name like a million of them," Franks said. "I mean, JJ is so cerebral when it comes to anything to do with special teams, whether it's penalties. And I think the most impressive part for me is, we can do it in the film room, and to me it's a little bit easier right when you're in the AC, and you can see it coming and whatnot, but even more on the field on game day, the way JJ is able to analyze something, hey, this is coming here, this is coming here, but there's a penalty, knows every situational penalty in the rule book.

"So he's able to talk to those refs if we get a penalty or if they get a penalty, hey, this happened, this happened. So yeah, I think everything, every facet of the game, JJ's somebody that we lean on, everybody on special teams, that you know, in every facet of it."

He's also trying to stay young, with the haircut and the dance moves he'll try out during breaks in practice, because being a captain and a special teamer means you're constantly running with a younger crowd. But in those rooms, he carries a clear respect from the kids.

"I mean, one of the things one of my first coaches used to say was that the hardest thing to do is sustain success year after year, right?" Franks said. "And JJ's the epitome of that.

"His body's always ready; he's always ready to go, always engaged. He's a fun teammate. I love having JJ as a teammate, man, a good person too. That makes it even better."

Martin, the almost-old guy (when you hang around Jansen, you fly with a safety net), said that Jansen's approach also sends a subtle message to the rest of the team.

"Everybody's different," Martin said. "But I think it is good to show that you don't have to be uptight; you can be loose and still enjoy this thing that we do."

When running back AJ Dillon is asked if Jansen seems old, he agreed, but with a condition.

"In a good way, yes, like a wise old owl," Dillon said. "He's not rickety, but I mean, all jokes aside, it's always great to have a guy who's seen a lot, a veteran guy at the position. For  a running back, seven years, people are like, 'Oh wow.' So now for him to have that longevity, continuing to play in the league. Everybody talks about, as the years go by, the game slowing down, whatever the position. So I feel like it's great to have another guy for for the young guys, for myself included, for anybody, when you can talk to somebody and you know their world's not blowing up on game day because you know they're they're relaxed, they're even keel."

In a place where the head coach (45) and general manager (47) are closer in age to the long snapper than he is to most of his teammates, that stands out.

Time tends to lend perspective.

Of course, to Jansen, all this talk about numbers makes him a little uncomfortable. Because of all the mathematical certainties, no one is able to play forever. He won't put a limit on it, though — Why would he? He's still as fast as he was half a decade ago — but he knows there will come a time.

Awareness is a gift, so he knows that his fellow 40-year-old snapper, Weeks, is 16 games behind him on the all-time games played list; so if Weeks goes a full season longer than Jansen, he'd get passed on that list. He also knows that Weeks is 28 days younger, and that they both grew up in Phoenix. The fraternity of Arizona long snappers has the best parties (Jansen also crossed paths with Jason Kyle on a Monday morning at a Phoenix gym the day before the Panthers traded for Jansen to replace Kyle. The world is this big around.)

Jansen is also five games away from passing Trey Junkin as the longest-tenured long snapper in league history. Junkin, who also played tight end and once caught 38 passes in a season, is at 281 games.

But when he thinks of entering his 18th season on the field, he doesn't think of it in those terms.

"I don't think of myself as 40," Jansen said. "I don't think of myself as 40, which is screwed up and weird to say. But here's the interesting part to me: when I step on the field, I never thought, man, I'm an outstanding athlete on this field. I've always felt like I'm really good in my little 3-foot-by-3-foot box.

"So when you get to be 40, and you're still playing. It wasn't like I used to be faster than everybody and now I'm slower. Not like I used to be stronger and now I'm weaker. I've always thought I was the least athletic person on the field. I had this unique trait. So you get to be 40. It's not like I went past you. It's not like there's things I used to be able to do that I can't anymore. I still do whatever it was that I did when I was 22. And there are some things that I think I do better now. So it's kind of interesting, but I don't think of myself as 40."

As it turns out, you don't have to. Some of his teammates might joke about it, but the vast majority of them all think he's younger — because he's still getting it done.

So when you see that Interstate 277 sign on your way to the game at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday, let it remind you that numbers aren't static.

JJ Jansen's at 277, and counting.