Panthers sign LS JJ Jansen for 18th season

Carolina Panthers long snapper JJ Jansen will return to the team for an 18th season after signing a one-year contract on Tuesday.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the 40-year-old Jansen, who has played in a franchise-record 277 games since 2009. A distant second on the list is kicker John Kasay, who made 221 regular-season appearances with the Panthers (1995-2010).

"He's everlasting," special teams coach Tracy Smith joked late last season of Jansen. "... He can do this for as long as he wants to. He's everlasting. There's no proof that he's not a robot. 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."

The Panthers acquired Jansen in a 2009 trade with the Packers, though he never played for Green Bay. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2013.