In a season where wins have been hard to come by for the New Orleans Saints, one name has given fans a reason to smile: Charlie Smyth. The rookie kicker from County Down, Northern Ireland, has gone from Gaelic footballer to NFL game-winner in a journey that reads like a sports movie script - only this one’s playing out in real time.
Smyth’s path to the league wasn’t the typical draft-day celebration or college football pipeline. Instead, it was a grind through the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program (IPPP), a long shot that’s now paying off in a big way.
After starting the year on the practice squad, Smyth earned a promotion to the active roster in late November. Just a few weeks later, he delivered the kind of moment every kicker dreams about - a 47-yard game-winning field goal to take down the NFC South-leading Carolina Panthers.
Let’s pause there for a second. A rookie kicker, in just his third NFL game, nails a high-pressure kick to seal a win against the division’s top team. That’s not just clutch - that’s the kind of moment that can define a career.
The celebration in the Saints’ locker room was pure joy. Smyth was mobbed by teammates, received the game ball, and even had the honor of breaking the team down in the postgame huddle - a tradition usually reserved for the day’s hero.
As chants of “CHARLIE! CHARLIE!
CHARLIE!” echoed through the room, Smyth soaked in a moment he’d visualized countless times.
“It was a really cool moment,” Smyth said afterward. “You see that around the league - head coaches breaking the teams down, guys getting the game ball. I always imagined it would be pretty cool to be in that situation.”
But Smyth wasn’t just caught up in the spotlight. True to form, he made sure to credit the team around him.
“It’s not just the kick,” he said. “It’s a whole team effort.
Because everybody else did their job, then that allowed me to go out and hit the kick.”
That kind of humility - paired with poise under pressure - is part of what’s made Smyth such a compelling figure in this Saints locker room. And while some players might’ve celebrated a game-winner in New Orleans by hitting Bourbon Street, Smyth opted for something quieter, more personal.
“You might think that back home, we go to the pub and drown ourselves in beer or whatever,” he said with a laugh. “But I just went and got some pizzas with my mom, sister, and girlfriend. We had a few beers, just chilled at my apartment, really soaking it all in.”
His father couldn’t be there - tied up with work back home - but Smyth made the most of the moment with those who were. “It was just a really cool evening. Glad to get to celebrate with those you’re closest to.”
Rewinding to the lead-up to the kick, Smyth remembers the moment vividly. “There were maybe three or four minutes left in the fourth quarter,” he said.
“I was talking to our snapper, Zach Wood, and Kai Kroeger, our punter and holder. I said, ‘I have a feeling we’re going to have a game-winning opportunity here.’”
That wasn’t nerves talking - it was anticipation. Confidence.
The kind of mindset you want in a kicker. “I just remember smiling as [Saints quarterback Tyler Shough] was driving up the field with the offense,” Smyth recalled.
“I felt ready for whatever opportunity was going to arise. It’s what you come over here to do, right?
Help your team.”
For a player who once dreamed of moments like this while lying awake at night, Sunday’s finish was the payoff. “Wouldn’t it be cool to have a game-winning attempt?”
he remembered thinking. “And thankfully, we got the opportunity.”
Of course, life as an NFL kicker is anything but secure. The position is notoriously volatile, and teams around the league are constantly rotating through options - sometimes burning through two or three kickers in a single season. The Giants, for instance, have already used three different kickers this year, including fellow Northern Irishman Jude McAtamney.
So while Smyth’s story is the stuff of inspiration, it also comes with a reminder: consistency is king. The leash is short, and every kick matters. But for now, Smyth has done more than enough to earn his moment - and maybe even a longer look as the Saints continue to rebuild.
From County Down to crunch time in the Superdome, Charlie Smyth is showing that sometimes, the underdog stories hit the hardest - and the uprights.