A MOMENT INSIDE the New Orleans Saints’ locker room following their Week 15 victory over the Carolina Panthers encapsulated the absurdity of the Charlie Smyth story.
The Irish kicker had nailed the game-winning field goal from 47 yards with seconds remaining, earning the Saints only their fourth victory of a transitional season and severely denting the playoff prospects of their divisional rivals in the process.
During New Orleans’ post-match celebrations back inside their Superdome quarters, Smyth was bestowed the final game-ball by Saints boss Kellen Moore — a traditional means of marking a player’s outstanding contribution towards a team victory.
Smyth’s back must have been red-raw such was the playful slapping he received from his ebullient teammates. They swarmed the Co. Down man and implored him to deliver the final address to the team before they parted ways for the evening.
As Smyth was reluctantly shepherded into the centre of the locker room, his name was chanted from all corners: “CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE!”
Charlie Smyth kicks the game-winner against the Panthers. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Had it been a movie scene, it might have been considered corny. But this was Charlie Smyth’s real life. This was magic. And the Saints’ newfound star quarterback, Tyler Shough, unintentionally summed up the madness of it all with a gesture easily lost amid the beautiful chaos.
Halfway through Smyth’s short speech in which he diverted all praise towards the Saints’ special-teams unit, his teammates began to cheer again at an incongruent moment; many of them couldn’t understand a word he was saying and simply decided to express their general approval.
As the smiling Smyth took a breath, rookie quarterback Shough leaned into the Co. Down man and reminded him that he should break down the team with “Saints on three!” at the end of his address.
Smyth, to be clear, did not remotely require Shough’s instruction. Yet it was perfectly reasonable for Shough to wonder if the former Gaelic footballer knew how the whole post-match ritual was supposed to play out: it was only Smyth’s third time being in the locker room for a competitive NFL game, after all, and it was his first time issuing the final word to his teammates in any context.
There is no ambiguity, though, about the esteem in which Smyth is held by the Saints’ roster. That the 24-year-old uprooted his life in pursuit of what should have been an impossible dream, and that he has grafted hard enough to become a starting NFL kicker less than two years after first kicking an American football, would command respect in any locker room.
Smyth’s humility throughout his 21 months in New Orleans — most of which he spent on the practice squad, training alongside the first-team squad but as a backup — has endeared him to his peers. Offensive talisman Chris Olave, one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, described the former Down goalkeeper as “the most down-to-earth dude” when gushing about his winning field goal against the Panthers.
But what has equally ingratiated Smyth to Saints players, coaches and supporters alike is that, as quarterback Tyler Shough describes it, “He’s got that dog in him.”
The Saints celebrate Smyth's winning moment against the Panthers. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Missed on the broadcast footage of his game-winner against the Panthers was Smyth’s initial reaction before he was flocked by his celebrating teammates.
The ball was only halfway towards the sticks before he appeared to turn away in satisfaction (as actor and Baton Rouge native Patrick A. Grover put it on Twitter, “The good thing about Charlie Smyth is that as soon as you see the kick is straight, you’re never worried about whether it’s got the distance”).
Smyth, though, had more up his sleeve: with the ball still on its ascent, the kicker in fact turned directly towards the bench of the Saints’ NFC South rivals and gave them both barrels, his arms outstretched as the Panthers’ playoff hopes suffered a bitter blow.
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While such a pointed celebration might have been frowned upon in his previous sporting code, Smyth was well within his rights to give Carolina the business. They had taken a timeout in an effort to ‘ice’ the inexperienced Irishman while he initially lined up for the kick, which is perfectly within the legal parameters of American football but is hardly sportsmanlike.
Photographs of Smyth’s celebration, including a graphic posted to the Saints’ official social media channels, were already doing big numbers online when Smyth took to the podium for his portion of the post-game press conference.
He initially claimed that he couldn’t remember if he had taunted the Panthers before eventually conceding that he absolutely had.
“That’s my boy right there,” said wide receiver Olave of Smyth. “I knew he was going to knock that down. He deserves the opportunity, and to be able to kick a game-winner, that’s huge for him.
“I know he’s been waiting for his opportunity since he got out here and I’ve gotta say I’m super-proud of him that he delivered in a clutch moment.”
Head coach Kellen Moore, meanwhile, said that he’d had enough confidence in Smyth that he simply stayed away from him on the sideline as the Mayobridge man began to warm up for his potential game-winner, and that Smyth needed no words of encouragement.
Less than three months earlier, before the regular season had begun, Moore had sat across from Smyth in his office and informed him that the Saints would be cutting him from their roster, at least temporarily, for the second year in succession.
While Smyth had played the full second halves of all three of New Orleans’ preseason games and made all of his kicks, incumbent kicker Blake Grupe had equally been spotless in the first halves of those fixtures. Crucially, Grupe had also shot the lights out during the Saints’ training camp: he missed just one of his 50 efforts on goal on the practice field between late July and August, whereas Smyth, the clearly more powerful kicker of the pair, had struggled slightly for rhythm earlier in the summer.
Smyth didn’t need to hear Grupe’s training camp described in passing as “historic” to know that he was going to be left disappointed as New Orleans pared their first-team roster down to the mandated 53 players in late August (an NFL team virtually never carries two kickers in their first-team squad).
But as they shook hands across a desk in Jefferson Parish, both Smyth and Moore knew that their working relationship might resume as soon as a couple of days later. Moore informed Smyth in no uncertain terms that, just as had been the case under previous head coach Dennis Allen in 2024, the Saints would re-sign him to their practice squad if he wasn’t claimed by another franchise during the NFL’s 24-hour waiver process.
Upon leaving Moore’s office, Smyth informed his agent that he had been cut. Unable to use the Saints’ facilities the following day — standard practice given he was technically no longer an employee — he played a round of golf rather than spend the day staring at his phone as he had a year previously.
There were nibbles: Smyth has been highly regarded by scouts across the league since his efforts at the NFL Combine in early 2024. But with countless veteran free-agent kickers available to the few clubs short in the position, the former Ulster U20 championship winner and Tailteann Cup runner-up was considered too much of a gamble given his relative lack of American football experience.
He landed back with New Orleans, who were good to their word.
Charlie Smyth following the Saints' win over the Panthers. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Smyth regained his berth as the Saints’ International Player Pathway-designated player, which entitles a franchise to add a 17th player to what would otherwise be a 16-man practice squad.
This again entitled Smyth to a league-minimum salary, increased slightly in 2025 to $13,000 per week — or $234,000 (€200,000) for the full 18-week season. Backing up Blake Grupe would still beat primary-school teaching back home, but Smyth told The 42 in a September feature interview that he felt ready to become an NFL starter.
After a shaky start to a losing season in which he went 18-for-26 on field goals, Grupe found himself on the chopping block. He eventually landed with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Saints consequently brought in both seven-time Pro Bowler Justin Tucker — who had just served a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy — and former fourth-round draft pick Cade York for workouts.
York made the greater impression on the Saints’ special teams coaches during his trial and was signed to New Orleans’ practice squad, which already included the IPP-designated Smyth.
The Irishman, however, beat out York in a kicking competition during New Orleans’ Week 13 practices and was entrusted with the starting role for their trip to Florida to face the Miami Dolphins.
Smyth’s first NFL game proper became a sensation around the league. While the game-script dictated that he was denied a chance at goal until late in the fourth quarter, he eventually sank a 56-yarder with his first proper NFL kick to move the Saints back to within a score. Smyth then completed an onside kick — the chances of success for which are around 10% — to give his team a shot at victory which they ultimately passed up.
A week later, Smyth enjoyed a lower-key but flawless outing, kicking three extra points and a 30-yard field goal as the Saints stunned their divisional rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the road. Then came his 47-yard game-winner with seconds remaining against another NFC South outfit, the Panthers, which will ensure that he’s written into Saints folklore irrespective of how the rest of his career plays out.
More recently, he formally entered the club’s history books. During last Sunday’s victory over the New York Jets, Smyth tied a Saints record by making five field goals in a single game. Smyth was good from 35, 49, 36, 50 and then 39 yards, missing once from 61. He also tagged on the extras to two touchdowns, taking his total points haul to 17.
Charlie Smyth is congratulated by the Jets' veteran kicker, Nick Folk. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Smyth’s points tally was the third highest for a kicker in a single game this season, and his five successful field goals were the second-most completed in a game in 2025.
He has duly signed a new three-year contract as the Saints’ starting kicker, a position for which the league minimum salary is just north of a million dollars (€850k) and will increase to $1.2m (€1m) in 2027.
Smyth’s money is not guaranteed — if he’s cut, he’s cut, and his is about the most volatile profession in world sport. But his trajectory over the past month, at least, would suggest that he’ll earn the chance to bring the Saints back to the negotiation table down the line.
In the Saints’ locker room following last weekend’s emphatic victory over the Jets, head coach Kellen Moore dished out more game-balls than usual, acknowledging his side’s massive defensive effort as they won their third straight game.
He then turned his attention to his kicker, who had amassed 17 of New Orleans’ 29 points.
“Where’s that Irish guy?” Moore joked to cheers from Smyth’s teammates. “He got five field goals!”
As the head coach eventually located Smyth and tossed him a ball, the Saints’ hulking defensive end, Chase Young, broke into his version of an Irish dance in the middle of the floor.
Virtually nobody acknowledged it, and the cheers for Smyth were only as loud as they had been for the several other stars who had earned game-balls from their coaches.
To a degree, the novelty of Smyth’s ascent to the Saints’ starting role has passed — which is a good thing.
He’s increasingly seen now instead as a regular, dependable teammate; one of the lads who happens to have a funny accent, a nuclear right boot, and a remarkable story to tell for the rest of his days.
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Charlie Smyth's NFL ascent is one of the best Irish sports stories of 2025, or any year
A MOMENT INSIDE the New Orleans Saints’ locker room following their Week 15 victory over the Carolina Panthers encapsulated the absurdity of the Charlie Smyth story.
The Irish kicker had nailed the game-winning field goal from 47 yards with seconds remaining, earning the Saints only their fourth victory of a transitional season and severely denting the playoff prospects of their divisional rivals in the process.
During New Orleans’ post-match celebrations back inside their Superdome quarters, Smyth was bestowed the final game-ball by Saints boss Kellen Moore — a traditional means of marking a player’s outstanding contribution towards a team victory.
Smyth’s back must have been red-raw such was the playful slapping he received from his ebullient teammates. They swarmed the Co. Down man and implored him to deliver the final address to the team before they parted ways for the evening.
As Smyth was reluctantly shepherded into the centre of the locker room, his name was chanted from all corners: “CHARLIE! CHARLIE! CHARLIE!”
Had it been a movie scene, it might have been considered corny. But this was Charlie Smyth’s real life. This was magic. And the Saints’ newfound star quarterback, Tyler Shough, unintentionally summed up the madness of it all with a gesture easily lost amid the beautiful chaos.
Halfway through Smyth’s short speech in which he diverted all praise towards the Saints’ special-teams unit, his teammates began to cheer again at an incongruent moment; many of them couldn’t understand a word he was saying and simply decided to express their general approval.
As the smiling Smyth took a breath, rookie quarterback Shough leaned into the Co. Down man and reminded him that he should break down the team with “Saints on three!” at the end of his address.
Smyth, to be clear, did not remotely require Shough’s instruction. Yet it was perfectly reasonable for Shough to wonder if the former Gaelic footballer knew how the whole post-match ritual was supposed to play out: it was only Smyth’s third time being in the locker room for a competitive NFL game, after all, and it was his first time issuing the final word to his teammates in any context.
There is no ambiguity, though, about the esteem in which Smyth is held by the Saints’ roster. That the 24-year-old uprooted his life in pursuit of what should have been an impossible dream, and that he has grafted hard enough to become a starting NFL kicker less than two years after first kicking an American football, would command respect in any locker room.
Smyth’s humility throughout his 21 months in New Orleans — most of which he spent on the practice squad, training alongside the first-team squad but as a backup — has endeared him to his peers. Offensive talisman Chris Olave, one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, described the former Down goalkeeper as “the most down-to-earth dude” when gushing about his winning field goal against the Panthers.
But what has equally ingratiated Smyth to Saints players, coaches and supporters alike is that, as quarterback Tyler Shough describes it, “He’s got that dog in him.”
Missed on the broadcast footage of his game-winner against the Panthers was Smyth’s initial reaction before he was flocked by his celebrating teammates.
The ball was only halfway towards the sticks before he appeared to turn away in satisfaction (as actor and Baton Rouge native Patrick A. Grover put it on Twitter, “The good thing about Charlie Smyth is that as soon as you see the kick is straight, you’re never worried about whether it’s got the distance”).
Smyth, though, had more up his sleeve: with the ball still on its ascent, the kicker in fact turned directly towards the bench of the Saints’ NFC South rivals and gave them both barrels, his arms outstretched as the Panthers’ playoff hopes suffered a bitter blow.
While such a pointed celebration might have been frowned upon in his previous sporting code, Smyth was well within his rights to give Carolina the business. They had taken a timeout in an effort to ‘ice’ the inexperienced Irishman while he initially lined up for the kick, which is perfectly within the legal parameters of American football but is hardly sportsmanlike.
Photographs of Smyth’s celebration, including a graphic posted to the Saints’ official social media channels, were already doing big numbers online when Smyth took to the podium for his portion of the post-game press conference.
He initially claimed that he couldn’t remember if he had taunted the Panthers before eventually conceding that he absolutely had.
“That’s my boy right there,” said wide receiver Olave of Smyth. “I knew he was going to knock that down. He deserves the opportunity, and to be able to kick a game-winner, that’s huge for him.
“I know he’s been waiting for his opportunity since he got out here and I’ve gotta say I’m super-proud of him that he delivered in a clutch moment.”
Head coach Kellen Moore, meanwhile, said that he’d had enough confidence in Smyth that he simply stayed away from him on the sideline as the Mayobridge man began to warm up for his potential game-winner, and that Smyth needed no words of encouragement.
Less than three months earlier, before the regular season had begun, Moore had sat across from Smyth in his office and informed him that the Saints would be cutting him from their roster, at least temporarily, for the second year in succession.
While Smyth had played the full second halves of all three of New Orleans’ preseason games and made all of his kicks, incumbent kicker Blake Grupe had equally been spotless in the first halves of those fixtures. Crucially, Grupe had also shot the lights out during the Saints’ training camp: he missed just one of his 50 efforts on goal on the practice field between late July and August, whereas Smyth, the clearly more powerful kicker of the pair, had struggled slightly for rhythm earlier in the summer.
Smyth didn’t need to hear Grupe’s training camp described in passing as “historic” to know that he was going to be left disappointed as New Orleans pared their first-team roster down to the mandated 53 players in late August (an NFL team virtually never carries two kickers in their first-team squad).
But as they shook hands across a desk in Jefferson Parish, both Smyth and Moore knew that their working relationship might resume as soon as a couple of days later. Moore informed Smyth in no uncertain terms that, just as had been the case under previous head coach Dennis Allen in 2024, the Saints would re-sign him to their practice squad if he wasn’t claimed by another franchise during the NFL’s 24-hour waiver process.
Upon leaving Moore’s office, Smyth informed his agent that he had been cut. Unable to use the Saints’ facilities the following day — standard practice given he was technically no longer an employee — he played a round of golf rather than spend the day staring at his phone as he had a year previously.
There were nibbles: Smyth has been highly regarded by scouts across the league since his efforts at the NFL Combine in early 2024. But with countless veteran free-agent kickers available to the few clubs short in the position, the former Ulster U20 championship winner and Tailteann Cup runner-up was considered too much of a gamble given his relative lack of American football experience.
He landed back with New Orleans, who were good to their word.
Smyth regained his berth as the Saints’ International Player Pathway-designated player, which entitles a franchise to add a 17th player to what would otherwise be a 16-man practice squad.
This again entitled Smyth to a league-minimum salary, increased slightly in 2025 to $13,000 per week — or $234,000 (€200,000) for the full 18-week season. Backing up Blake Grupe would still beat primary-school teaching back home, but Smyth told The 42 in a September feature interview that he felt ready to become an NFL starter.
After a shaky start to a losing season in which he went 18-for-26 on field goals, Grupe found himself on the chopping block. He eventually landed with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Saints consequently brought in both seven-time Pro Bowler Justin Tucker — who had just served a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy — and former fourth-round draft pick Cade York for workouts.
York made the greater impression on the Saints’ special teams coaches during his trial and was signed to New Orleans’ practice squad, which already included the IPP-designated Smyth.
The Irishman, however, beat out York in a kicking competition during New Orleans’ Week 13 practices and was entrusted with the starting role for their trip to Florida to face the Miami Dolphins.
Smyth’s first NFL game proper became a sensation around the league. While the game-script dictated that he was denied a chance at goal until late in the fourth quarter, he eventually sank a 56-yarder with his first proper NFL kick to move the Saints back to within a score. Smyth then completed an onside kick — the chances of success for which are around 10% — to give his team a shot at victory which they ultimately passed up.
A week later, Smyth enjoyed a lower-key but flawless outing, kicking three extra points and a 30-yard field goal as the Saints stunned their divisional rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, on the road. Then came his 47-yard game-winner with seconds remaining against another NFC South outfit, the Panthers, which will ensure that he’s written into Saints folklore irrespective of how the rest of his career plays out.
More recently, he formally entered the club’s history books. During last Sunday’s victory over the New York Jets, Smyth tied a Saints record by making five field goals in a single game. Smyth was good from 35, 49, 36, 50 and then 39 yards, missing once from 61. He also tagged on the extras to two touchdowns, taking his total points haul to 17.
Smyth’s points tally was the third highest for a kicker in a single game this season, and his five successful field goals were the second-most completed in a game in 2025.
He has duly signed a new three-year contract as the Saints’ starting kicker, a position for which the league minimum salary is just north of a million dollars (€850k) and will increase to $1.2m (€1m) in 2027.
Smyth’s money is not guaranteed — if he’s cut, he’s cut, and his is about the most volatile profession in world sport. But his trajectory over the past month, at least, would suggest that he’ll earn the chance to bring the Saints back to the negotiation table down the line.
In the Saints’ locker room following last weekend’s emphatic victory over the Jets, head coach Kellen Moore dished out more game-balls than usual, acknowledging his side’s massive defensive effort as they won their third straight game.
He then turned his attention to his kicker, who had amassed 17 of New Orleans’ 29 points.
“Where’s that Irish guy?” Moore joked to cheers from Smyth’s teammates. “He got five field goals!”
As the head coach eventually located Smyth and tossed him a ball, the Saints’ hulking defensive end, Chase Young, broke into his version of an Irish dance in the middle of the floor.
Virtually nobody acknowledged it, and the cheers for Smyth were only as loud as they had been for the several other stars who had earned game-balls from their coaches.
To a degree, the novelty of Smyth’s ascent to the Saints’ starting role has passed — which is a good thing.
He’s increasingly seen now instead as a regular, dependable teammate; one of the lads who happens to have a funny accent, a nuclear right boot, and a remarkable story to tell for the rest of his days.
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