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Charlie Smyth from Down has been waived by the New Orleans Saints but is set to be retained on their practice squad after slipping behind Daniel Carlson in the kicking pecking order.
Charlie Smyth, the kicker from Down who plays in the NFL, has found himself behind Daniel Carlson in the kicking pecking order despite having enjoyed a breakthrough season in the league.
Smyth had several exceptional moments during the regular season with the New Orleans Saints, but he did not deliver his best performances during preseason and training camps. As a result, he was waived just before the new season began, but he is set to be retained by the Saints on their practice squad.
Because Smyth entered the NFL through the international player pathway programme after previously playing Gaelic football for Down, he does not count towards the sixteen-player practice squad limit, which makes it easier for the team to keep him on board. Other NFL teams had the opportunity to recruit him on Monday, but no interest was shown from elsewhere in the league.
It is a setback for Smyth, who would otherwise have been in line for an average annual salary of almost one million dollars as part of the main roster. Instead, he will return to the practice squad salary of around two hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars per year. Speaking to The Irish Times earlier this year, Smyth was realistic about the fragile nature of his NFL career.
He explained that in most sports, if a player signs a contract and is later released, the team still has to pay out the remaining salary. In the NFL, however, nothing is guaranteed, and he has already experienced two short-lived contracts that did not last.
He said he was not getting ahead of himself and warned that people at home might see his position and think he was set for life, but the reality is that there is no guaranteed money and teams can get rid of a player if he is not performing. Despite the disappointment of being demoted, Smyth's previous campaign showed exactly what he is capable of at the highest level.
He made twelve of sixteen field goal attempts and was successful on every single one of his thirteen extra-point tries as a starter last season. One of the undoubted highlights of his year was a dramatic forty-seven-yard winning field goal against the Carolina Panthers that was kicked with only six seconds remaining on the clock.
Those performances had marked him out as a promising talent, but the arrival or resurgence of competition in the kicking group has pushed him back down the depth chart heading into the new season
Charlie Smyth NFL New Orleans Saints Down GAA International Player Pathway Practice Squad
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