Share
29th March 2024
04:57pm GMT
Mayobridge man Charlie Smyth has signed with the New Orleans Saints, per Pro Football Ireland.
In a historic move for the twenty-two year old. During his NFL Pro Day last week in Florida, Smyth impressively made good on eight out of ten attempts, improving on his accuracy from his last tryout in Indianapolis. Later in the week, he posted a sixty plus yard field goal, which went viral online:
Earlier this month at the NFL Combine, Smyth stood out as the most precise Irish kicker, successfully making 12 out of 16 attempts and coming close to hitting a kick from sixty yards on the day. An NFL fan for years, Smyth now has the opportunity to make his own history.
The Leader Kicking and NFL IPP athlete has accepted a deal which will see him sign over the next few days. Charlie will become the first Irish player to sign with a team as part of the NFL IPP cohort.
The average kicker in the NFL earns a salary of approximately $860,000 per year, and the highest paid kicker, the Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker earns $6,000,000. The terms of Smyth’s contract have not been made public yet.
Speaking to Mark Hogan of Pro Football Ireland in January, Smyth talked about his journey from fan to kicker. "I've been a big fan of the sport for seven or eight years,” Smyth said. “I saw Tadhg Leader’s page on Twitter this past year or so and I was thinking, should I give it a go?
Smyth went on: "If you had asked me this time last year, would you be doing this? I probably would have just laughed, to be honest. But now it's here. It's unbelievable. I'm willing to give it my best shot. One thing I actually feel like I'm doing quite well at the minute is just enjoying the journey. Session by session, week by week. "I want to get better at this. I want to improve."
It’s clear that Smyth drastically improved. Even from the NFL Combine to his Pro Day mere weeks later, Smyth showed composure and added height in his kicks. The shift from moving from Mayobridge to Florida and allowing him to train on a full time basis allowed the Down man to elevate his portfolio - and now the New Orleans Saints have
Smyth will look to challenge for the starting kicking position, currently held by Blake Grupe. Earlier on Friday, it was reported that Louis Rees-Zammit would sign a three year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. While we don’t know the full contractual details yet for Smyth, he is expected to compete for the starting position. In his first season with the Saints in 2023, Grupe had an 81.1% field goal success rate, perfect extra-point record, 130 total points which set a franchise rookie record, and received NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in week five of the season. For Smyth, the next few months will be intriguing, with continued hard work and dedication to make it to the next level in New Orleans
One thing for sure is - history has been made. Congratulations, Charlie.
