CHARLOTTE — Very few people have played in the NFL past their 40th birthday.

But even with signing a new contract to play for the Panthers for an 18th season on Tuesday, JJ Jansen isn't nearly the oldest in league history, or even franchise history.

Of course, he's JJ Jansen, so there's no way of knowing when he'll stop, since he's already played in 277 games here.

"There's no proof that he's not a robot," Panthers special teams coach Tracy Smith said late last season. "Nobody knows that he is not AI. We're just going to go forward to the end of time, as far as I'm concerned."

Jansen opened the door to playing into his 40s by signing yet another one-year contract on Tuesday, which will make him the third player in franchise history to play a game as a 40-year-old.

The record was set by quarterback Vinny Testaverde, who played here in 2007 at 44.

He's followed by John Kasay, who was 41 in his final season here in 2010, which was Jansen's second year with the Panthers after arriving in a 2009 trade with the Packers.

Oldest players in Panthers history (so far)

Of course, the record for the oldest player in NFL history was former Raiders quarterback and kicker George Blanda, who played until he was 48.

Kickers Morten Anderson and Adam Vinatieri (who got his Hall of Fame knock a few hours before Jansen was present for Luke Kuechly's — let's play Six Degrees of JJ Jansen) played until they were 47.

(Seriously, you can play Six Degrees of JJ Jansen. George Blanda played on the 1975 Raiders with Dave Casper. Dave Casper played on the 1984 Raiders with Sean Jones. Sean Jones played on the 1996 Packers with Reggie White. Reggie White played on the 2000 Panthers with Muhsin Muhammad and Brad Hoover. Muhsin Muhammad and Brad Hoover played on the 2009 Panthers with JJ Jansen. FUN!)

Oldest players in NFL history

Since 2000, 47 players have played in a game after turning 40. That list is heavy on kickers and punters, 23 of them.

They're followed by quarterbacks from Tom Brady and Testaverde, from Drew Brees to Philip Rivers, who suited up in three games for the Colts this year at 43.

Two long snappers are on that list, Trey Junkin and John Denney.

Junkin played 16 games in his 40s for the Cardinals in 2001 (with Jansen in the stands for some of them, since he grew up in Phoenix). He is the only long snapper on the all-time games played list ahead of Jansen, though his 281 games played could fall by the wayside by October.

Denney played three games after his 40th birthday in 2018, toward his total of a mere 224 games. Jansen passed that number in 2022.

And he's still going.

Games played after 40th birthday (since 2000)

• 106 — K Adam Vinatieri
• 106 — K Morten Andersen
• 98 — QB Tom Brady
• 89 — K John Carney
• 76 — K Gary Anderson
• 64 — P Jeff Feagles
• 62 — K Matt Bryant
• 58 — K Phil Dawson
• 57 — P Matt Turk
• 49 — T Ray Brown
• 45 — CB Darrell Green
• 45 — WR Jerry Rice
• 44 — P Sean Landeta
• 42 — K John Kasay
• 40 — K Jason Hanson
• 33 — QB Aaron Rodgers
• 32 — P Shane Lechler
• 32 — QB Vinny Testaverde
• 27 — P Bryan Barker
• 26 — K Matt Stover
• 25 — QB Brett Favre
• 23 — QB Drew Brees
• 22 — TE Marcedes Lewis
• 22 — K Nick Folk
• 20 — T Jason Peters
• 19 — K Matt Prater
• 18 — QB Mark Brunell
• 17 — P Andy Lee
• 16 — G Bruce Matthews
• 16 — LS Trey Junkin
• 16 — K Sebastian Janikowski
• 16 — DE Bruce Smith
• 15 — QB Doug Flutie
• 15 — QB Brad Johnson
• 13 — QB Joe Flacco
• 8 — QB Matt Hasselbeck
• 7 — LB Junior Seau
• 6 — P Sav Rocca
• 6 — P Lee Johnson
• 6 — K Eddie Murray
• 5 — K Robbie Gould
• 4 — T Andrew Whitworth
• 3 — QB Josh McCown
• 3 — LS John Denney
• 3 — QB Philip Rivers
• 2 — QB Warren Moon
• 1 — P Darren Bennett