Millions of American kids grow up dreaming of scoring the winning points in an NFL football game in front of 70,000 screaming fans. You might suppose that the same was true of 24-year-old New Orleans Saints kicker Charlie Smyth who on Dec. 14 helped defeat the Carolina Panthers with a 47-yard field goal as time expired, but you would be wrong. In fact, Charlie not only did not grow up in the United States, he hadn’t even touched an American football until two years ago. That is what makes the story of this Mayobridge, Co. Down, former G.A.A. goalkeeper’s NFL appearance even more unbelievable.
Growing up playing Gaelic helped develop Smyth’s powerful kicking skills. After graduating college as a primary school teacher in the summer of 2023, Smith signed up for a master’s program in Belfast but ended up pursuing the NFL instead. He joined the league’s International Player Pathway Program. His accuracy and strong leg got him a tryout with the Saints, who signed him to a reserve/future contract in January, a contract that the team could’ve voided at any moment and no guarantee that he would join the Saint’s regular roster and receive the $840,000 league minimum salary each NFL player earns. Impressed by his kicking in the pre-season the Saints signed him to the practice squad at the end of August. Practice squad players are paid but are not officially part of the team roster and earn far less than those players who make the roster.
However, the good news is Smyth was signed to the active roster on Dec. 19 on a three-year contract.
The National Football League is trying to develop talented European players like Charlie from the International Player Pathway Program. International pathway program players are allowed to remain on the practice squad as a kind of extra player.
The Saints’ regular kicker Blake Grupe struggled and missed a few field goals, and so in late November the team released him and moved Smyth up to the roster. In his first game Smyth, justified the team’s faith in him by successfully booting a very long 56-yard field goal on his first ever regular season attempt. Charlie’s heroics were made even sweeter by the presence of his family who flew from Northern Ireland. family made the trip to Florida at short notice, with Smyth only finding out he was playing on Friday. "I think they travelled for 23 hours because they flew to Chicago and the flight got delayed because of snow and then they flew down into Miami," he said after the game.
Smyth was again elevated to the team for following week, but his heroics came last Sunday, his first ever home game for the Saints. Smyth successfully executed a very difficult onside kick before lining up to take the game winning kick. A miss would have meant that the Saints lost so the pressure was on. “The outside world would say there’s a lot of pressure on you, but I’d like to say I embrace those moments,” Smyth said. “It’s just up to you to go out and execute everything you’ve been practicing the last two years.”
Smyth has impressed head coach Kellen Moore with his debut performance. "Charlie, I thought, kicked really well. Big-time field goal. The onside kick obviously was really well-kicked. Phenomenal kick there and put us in a position to have a chance at the end," Moore said after the defeat. "Charlie's earned this opportunity. We have a lot of confidence in him. He's worked at this thing for a number of years now. He's prepared himself really well. We have a lot of confidence in him. He obviously has the leg to make some big-time kicks. "That was a challenging situation, but it was a situation we needed to get some points there and he drilled it, and it was a phenomenal kick by him."
“I was just delighted to get the opportunity,” said Smyth, who was serenaded with chants of “Charlie, Charlie” in the locker room after receiving a game ball from coach Kellen Moore. “It was a good moment and one I’ll never forget. I’m pretty ecstatic right now, to be honest.”
The life of an NFL kicker can be precarious. Ask Jude McAtamney, a former Gaelic footballer from Derry who played for the New York Giants in the NFL after coming through the International Player Pathway program. He won an Ulster U20 Gaelic football title with Derry in 2018 before transitioning to American football, playing college at Rutgers, and becoming the first Irish-born placekicker in an NFL regular season game in decades in 2024. McAtemney was dropped this season from the Giants when he missed two extra point kicks in a game. Let’s hope that the Saints believe in Charlie Smyth enough to continue him in the lineup.
