CHARLOTTE — Last preseason, a couple of Charlotte legends met on the field after a preseason game.

One of them, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, had just been picked No. 3 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The other, JJ Jansen, is the last player remaining from Maye's childhood memories of his hometown Panthers the last time they went to the Super Bowl.

The former Myers Park quarterback was asked about playing his hometown team this weekend, and he admitted playing in Foxborough changes things.

"I think it's different playing up here," he told reporters there. " Going back to Charlotte would have been different. But going against the team that I grew up watching, I grew up cheering for, and a lot of great memories in that stadium back in Bank of America. So it's a little different, but at the same time, it's still just another week in the NFL.

"None of the same players that I grew up playing for, besides the long snapper, are still there."

Rest assured, he knows Jansen, who is at 263 games played and counting, tied for 35th-most in league history, and second-most among active players. Maye was in elementary school when Jansen was traded to the Panthers in 2009, but when they ran into each other during the preseason last year, the quarterback approached a guy he used to watch play after the game.

"He sought me out, of course, I certainly know who he is as being a third overall draft choice and being at Myers Park," Jansen said. "I remember watching him play at Myers Park when (former teammate) Josh McCown was the OC there and his son was the backup. And then watching Drake play and certainly watching Drake's brother play basketball at Chapel Hill, so I had kept tabs on his career. But I didn't think to introduce myself, and he came up to me afterwards, just a very mature young man, and said something very similar about watching me grow up or he was watching me play as he was growing up, and it was cool.

"It reminded me of my first game with the Panthers. We played a Monday night game in New York in the preseason, and Jeff Feagles was their punter, and he had been a Cardinal when I was in high school (in his hometown, Phoenix), and the first game that I'm playing, it's like, oh my gosh, like Jeff Feagles. Like I remember watching you play. So it had a little bit of that, and so it was kind of cool to be on the other side of it."

Jansen has ties to Charlotte Latin, so he's seen more of current Colts quarterback Daniel Jones, but said having quarterbacks like Jones, Maye, Sam Hartman, and Will Grier come through the area has been cool to watch, so he looks forward to running into Maye again.

And Maye has fond memories as well, as he talked about going to Super Bowl 50 after the 2015 season, following a magical 15-1 run through the regular season.

"I went to the Super Bowl when they lost to Peyton Manning, and man, that was tough," he said. "But yeah, just that season. I think it was 15-1. I was at that NFC Championship game at home, a big-time win. Just being a fan of Cam [Newton], I think, was probably the biggest memory. Him coming out here and doing the airplane and hitting the dab, so just little things like that. Just getting to know some of the players around has been pretty cool."