One of the NFL’s most incredible stories will culminate on Sunday when the New Orleans Saints take on the Miami Dolphins.
A week after waiving starting kicker Blake Grupe, the Saints have elevated kicker Charlie Smyth from the practice squad and will have him taking kicks against Miami. This is interesting for a few reasons:
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Smyth is Irish and will be only the NFL’s second player born in the country since 1985, joining Green Bay Packers punter Daniel Whelan.
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Smyth has never played in an American football game that has counted; his previous kicking experience is in Gaelic football.
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Smyth was training to be a teacher until last year, when he caught the Saints’ eye after participating in the NFL’s International Player Pathway program.
Charlie Smyth is about to play his first American football game. Ever. (Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images)
(Ric Tapia via Getty Images)
Smyth was an NFL fan while growing up in County Down and at one point wrote to the NFL as a teenager asking how he could break into the sport, per the Irish Independent. He got his primary school teaching degree in 2023, but remained interested in the NFL, eventually taking part in its International Player Pathway program.
That led to Smyth appearing at the scouting combine in 2024 and signing a three-year deal with the Saints. Via the Independent, he said believed his Gaelic football skills would translate:
“I think I always saw the ability I had in my free-kicks in Gaelic football and thought I could transfer my skills over to American football.
“I just finished my degree last year to be a primary school teacher with Irish language,” he said. “To be the position I am in now from last year; I thought I would be teaching, then playing Gaelic football in the evenings.
To this point, all of Smyth’s American football kicking experience has been in practice or in preseason games, where he’s 5-for-5 in attempts with his longest make from 52 yards.
Smyth’s opportunity arrived this week, after Grupe missed missed two kicks on Sunday in the Saints’ 24-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Those misses brought his accuracy down to 69.2%, the worst in the league among kickers with at least 20 attempts.
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The Saints released Grupe Tuesday and brought in two kickers for workouts: former Baltimore Ravens starter Justin Tucker and former Cleveland Browns starter Cade York. The team ended up signing York, who competed with Smyth for the job over the week.
As Smyth told NOLA.com earlier this week, he believed he’s come far enough to take over starting duties:
“I come over here; I want to play,” Smyth said earlier this week. “Obviously I didn’t play the sport before, so it’s taken time to make some adjustments and improvements on things, and I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot right now.”
The Saints apparently agreed.
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