Former Down goalkeeper to become first player to make transition from Gaelic football to American Football without playing in US College system
New Orleans Saints kicker Charlie Smyth
Charlie Smyth has been given the nod to start in his first NFL regular-season game as he will be the kicker for the New Orleans Saints as they travel to play the Miami Dolphins tomorrow.
Smyth, the former Down goalkeeper who swapped Gaelic football for American football last year, has been in an internal competition to be the team’s starting kicker after they let go of Blake Grupe following a string of bad performances.
He will now become the first player to directly translate Gaelic games into a starting job in the NFL without playing US college football first.
At the start of the week the signs were that Smyth faced an uphill battle as the team brought in veteran kicker Justin Tucker and league journeyman Cade York into the building for tryouts. York and Smyth have since both practiced with the team waiting until the last moment to decide who will start in Miami.
They have selected the Mayobridge man, who so far has only appeared in pre-season games for the Saints, including against the Arizona Cardinals last year where he kicked the winning field goal.
Smyth’s family are set to gather at Laverty’s Bar, Mayobridge to watch tomorrow’s game, which kicks off at 6pm Irish time.
It is the culmination of two years of graft that started when attending a kicking tryout in Ireland hosted by Tadhg Leader, who has founded a business specialising in identifying kicking and punting talent in Ireland and exploring opportunities to ply their trade in America.
Most of the players who are successful through Leader Kicking get scholarships with thousands at top American universities, but Smyth was part of a cohort that went straight to the 2024 NFL Combine to practice in front of scouts from around the NFL as part of the league’s International Player Pathway (IPP) programme.
Smyth travelled stateside with fellow GAA goalkeepers Rory Beggan and Mark Jackson, as well as rugby player Darragh Leader, where Smyth impressed Saints scouts enough to be signed to the practice squad, the team’s reserve side.
Every team in the NFL is encouraged to keep an international player on their roster, with an extra exemption slot held open in the practice squad for global talent. Smyth has bided his time in that slot waiting for his chance to play in the world’s biggest sports league. Now it has come.
“I think I have grown a lot,” Smyth said in New Orleans this week. “It’s been a journey the past 18 months, I have put all this time into working on my craft.
“I have to credit Blake when it comes to professionalism, just watching how he goes about his business and how he looks after his body. I’ve learned a lot from him.”