CHARLOTTE — Veteran long snapper JJ Jansen has snapped for kicking competitions before, and he's been the young guy learning from a much older player.

So this summer has felt familiar to him.

The Panthers still haven't made a call at kicker, though rookie Ryan Fitzgerald did all the kicking Thursday night in the preseason finale, with a field goal, an extra point, and all the kicking off. Veteran Matthew Wright, who has kicked in the league and been here before in the preseason, has also competed all summer but didn't kick in Thursday's finale.

In three preseason games, Fitzgerald has hit all three of his field goal attempts, from 32, 52, and 43 yards. Wright, who kicked consistently in practice throughout, and has experience in the league, missed his only preseason game attempt from 55.

"Not yet, no," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said when asked if a decision had been made. "We'll talk about that tomorrow."

Until a decision is made, the Panthers have been in a strange limbo, with the snapper and holder (punter Sam Martin) in place, but yet to build a fully realized relationship with either competitor.

"It's tricky in that there's this natural competition happening and you're trying to not pick sides," Jansen said. "But part of the job is you're supposed to form relationships with these guys on a deeper level, the same way any teammates you'd like to form. It's kind of hard to get super close to one because if I get super close to one, the other one feels like I'm picking a side, or vice versa. So that gets a little bit tricky.

"You're certainly trying to do the very best you can for both guys, but you probably don't get quite the same opportunity to build the relationship as a unit of three. That's kind of the one downside to it, but when you're trying to find the best player for the team, that's understandable why that's a little bit sacrificed."

Jansen has snapped for a couple of camp-long competitions before, when it was Olindo Mare and Justin Medlock in 2012, and Graham Gano and Harrison Butker in 2017.

And while he's new around here, Fitzgerald recognizes the benefit of having a snapper with 18 years in the league and a holder with 13.

"A combined 31 years of experience and just picking their brains every day, every chance I can," he said. "And I've learned so much in just the short time I've been here, so they've been so great, having me under their wing."

Fitzgerald, a rookie from Florida State, also thanked Wright for his help in what can often be an awkward situation.

"First off, it's been a lot of fun just coming in here every day and getting better and learning as much as I can from these specialists," he said. "I'm just super grateful for the opportunity to be here."

The 25-year-old Fitzgerald joked that when he first arrived, the 39-year-old Jansen told him he was closer in age to his oldest son than his snapper.

"It definitely was a little shocking," Fitzgerald said.

But Jansen has practice with the age gap, as he was 22 when he arrived and got to work with 39-year-old kicker John Kasay.

"So my mentor for the first two years of my career was a guy that I was in close range to his kids," Jansen said. "His oldest was 12, and I was 22. So now it's sort of the shoe's on the other foot. So, I appreciate the position I'm in, which is that I get to be a mentor to young guys, and it's not just the kickers. We've got some young men that are trying to learn how to be pros, and I can't tell them how to run the football or sack the quarterback, but hopefully I can provide a small sense of, hey, what do I do in this building right now?

"And you know if that includes me kicking them off a cart because they're rookies and they don't belong on a cart, I'll gladly take that as part of my job."

Jansen laughed and mentioned that when specialists leave practice early (once they're finished for the day), he, Martin, and Wright would be on a golf cart, while Fitzgerald was walking back to the locker room. One day, the gate closed when they drove through, and Fitzgerald was stuck.

And he's still waiting to learn his fate.

There was a chance at a late field goal by someone, but Canales didn't call a timeout to try one.

"Yeah, I think we had played enough football," he said. "I'm looking across the way and you know the Steelers kind of had towards the end of it we were both trying to run the ball a little bit knowing that we were both working with a smaller group tonight. So you know, I just felt like it was time to, like, let's run it a few more times, get these guys a couple more reps to evaluate them, and then take it in."

And even without one extra kick, Canales said they had enough information to work with.

"I think so, and we have the benefit, of course, of Matt being around for a while," he said. "And both guys did a heck of a job in my opinion, and really, I think you look across the league, these are two guys that bring something special, not just from the making field goals and PATs, but certainly in the kickoffs."