"George Best was once the only man from Northern Ireland to make a stir kicking a ball in America. But now the NFL is rife with Irish kickers. Last season Jude McAtamney hit a FG for the Giants. (It went less well for him this year.) And on Sunday Charlie Smyth joined him with a successful kick of his own, joining Neil O'Donoghue in the growing fraternity of Irish-born NFL kickers."
"Smyth was previously just another guy in the booth at Super Bowl 59. During a break, announcers on the UK Sky Sports broadcast brought him in for a chat. They introduced him as a member of the New Orleans Saints-he'd spent the year on their practice squad, and signed a futures contract for the following season-and "a big fan of the NFL." Smyth came to the league as part of the NFL's International Pathway Program, which gives interested teams an extra offseason roster spot in exchange for promoting the NFL's International Pathway Program. Occasionally a player gets a cup of coffee in the league, but there have been some real successes. Eagles lineman Jordan Mailata got his start with the program and was second team All-Pro last year. Many players in the program are attempting to switch codes of football, which can be hard because other countries have stupid, incomprehensible rules that are quite different from the stupid, incomprehensible rules of American-style football. Smyth, for his part, played goalkeeper in Gaelic football. "The role of a goalkeeper, who wears the number 1 jersey in Gaelic games, is similar to other sports: to prevent the ball from entering the goal," reads the Wikipedia entry for Gaelic football, hurling and camogie positions. This is not a job that any one player does in American football, and it certainly is not how you would describe a placekicker's gig. But Smyth, who is listed at 6-4, 210, is figuring it out. He wears number 39."
George Best was once the only Northern Irish player to attract attention for kicking a ball in America, but Irish-born kickers are now more common in the NFL. Jude McAtamney kicked a field goal for the Giants last season. Charlie Smyth made a successful kick and joined Neil O'Donoghue among Irish-born NFL kickers. Smyth spent the year on the New Orleans Saints practice squad and signed a futures contract. He entered the league via the NFL International Pathway Program, which grants teams an extra offseason roster spot. Smyth previously played goalkeeper in Gaelic football and is listed at 6-4, 210, wearing number 39.
Read at Defector
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]