County Down native Charlie Smyth has entered his third pre-season training camp with the New Orleans Saints, having established himself as the team's starting kicker after taking over the role in November 2025. The Mayobridge man converted 12 of 16 field-goal attempts and was flawless on all 13 extra-point tries across the final six games of the Saints' campaign, a run that led to him signing a three-year contract with the franchise.
Smyth's opportunity arose in Week 13 of the 2025 season when he was thrust into the starting role against the Miami Dolphins after Blake Grupe struggled to hold down the job. According to the Saints' official roster page, his longest field goal of the season travelled 57 yards, and he finished the campaign with 49 total points, split between his 12 successful field goals and 13 extra points. The same source credits him with 33 kickoffs at an average of 58.3 yards, producing 16 touchbacks over his six appearances.
Having come through the NFL's International Player Pathway programme, Smyth says the accumulated in-game experience has changed how he approaches this camp compared with his first two.
"I've got the experience in games to fall back on now," said the County Down native, who came through the league's International Player Pathway.
"It's been great to be into my third camp and feel a little more experienced, nothing here is foreign to me anymore."
"I've known the same special teams coordinator all my time here and he's been great with me."
"When you gain those relationships, it becomes familiar and I really do feel the support of everybody here. It's a cool feeling knowing that people want you to do well."
How has his fantasy football profile changed?
Smyth's rise to a starting role has come with an unexpected side effect: appearing in fantasy football conversations and video games he once played as a teenager. He described the surreal experience of outscoring some of the league's biggest names in a single week and seeing his likeness appear in the Madden series.
"I remember one week, the game against the Jets where I scored five field goals and I think I scored something like 19 fantasy points, someone sent me a message or tweet pointing out that I'd scored more that week than Josh Allen, Travis Kelce, Jackson Dart etc and it was captioned 'This is why we love fantasy football!' – it was pretty funny."
"Then I saw myself in Madden there and thought this is mental. I used to play this game as a teenager growing up and I never thought I would be in that position."
"I am not getting carried away and am focused on being the player not the fan. I think I am doing a good job of that."
Statistical services offer differing pictures of just how productive that fantasy output was. FantasyPros credits Smyth with an average of 10.0 fantasy points per game across his six outings, ranking him fifth among kickers league-wide over that stretch. By contrast, a career-stats summary from CBS Sports lists his 2025 fantasy tally as just 4.0 points across a single game, a figure that conflicts with both the Saints' own season totals and the broader figures reported elsewhere, including by ESPN, which lists his career totals as identical to the Saints' figures of 12-of-16 field goals and 13-of-13 extra points for 49 points.
What did Smyth learn from meeting Shane Lowry?
During the off-season, Smyth used his time in Louisiana to connect with fellow Irish sportsman Shane Lowry, the Open champion golfer, drawing comparisons between the technical demands of golf and placekicking.
The pair spent time together at the Zurich Classic, a PGA Tour event staged in New Orleans in April 2026, trading banter about their home counties of Down and Offaly before turning to the finer points of their respective crafts.
"Shane was brilliant. I walked the last couple of holes with him, I got to spend three or four hours with him," Smyth said.
"There are a lot of similarities between kicking and golf. From weight transfer to ball contact, hitting a draw or fade. We talked about the mentality of what he's thinking pre-shot, what I'm thinking pre-kick and we mashed it up."
"It was just a privilege to get to meet him."
Who is competing with Smyth for the starting job?
Unlike previous off-seasons, Smyth now finds himself with a proven track record to defend rather than a job to chase, though competition remains part of the process. The Saints have brought in Tanner Brown, who won a UFL championship earlier this year with the Louisville Kings, to challenge for the kicking spot during this year's pre-season.
"It's just the way it is in this business. You don't take anything personally," he said.
"I've obviously been in this position with Blake in the past two off-seasons and even last year going in competition when the job was up for grabs."
"All the specialists are with each other all the time, it's the nature of the business. You just go out and execute to the best of your ability."
The theme of an Irish sportsman relying on outside advice to sharpen performance under pressure echoes elsewhere in Gaelic games, where Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan recently credited guidance from rugby international Johnny Sexton for helping him land a late winning free that secured Tyrone's place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals after a tight win over Mayo.
Key Facts
- Charlie Smyth is from Mayobridge, County Down, and reached the NFL through the International Player Pathway programme.
- He converted 12 of 16 field goals and 13 of 13 extra points for the New Orleans Saints in the final six games of the 2025 season, totalling 49 points.
- His longest field goal of the season measured 57 yards, according to the Saints' official roster page.
- He signed a three-year contract with the Saints in December 2025 after replacing Blake Grupe as starting kicker.
- The Saints have added UFL championship winner Tanner Brown to compete with Smyth during the 2026 pre-season.
