IRISH KICKERS CHARLIE Smyth and Jude McAtamney will continue their NFL journeys having been added to the practice squads of the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants respectively.
Former Down senior Gaelic football goalkeeper Smyth, 22, is set to return to the Saints having been cut ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to reduce their first-team roster to 53 players.
While the Saints ultimately opted for Year 2 kicker Blake Grupe as their starter for the 2024 season, they have been impressed with Smyth who began kicking an American football only a year ago and has significantly more leg distance than Grupe.
The Saints were keen to retain Smyth to continue his development but having been left out of their 53-man roster, the Mayobridge native was free for 24 hours to sign to the first team of any of the other 31 NFL franchises per the league’s waiver rules.
This was always an unlikely prospect, however; while he has greatly impressed in practice and on tape, Smyth only got to kick one real-world field-goal — a 37-yard winner on his Saints debut — during pre-season, and so it would have been an enormous risk for another team to sign him as their first-choice kicker without having worked with him personally.
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As such, the Saints are now free to add Smyth to their practice squad, which is effectively a group of 16 development players — or 17 with the International Player Pathway exemption that the Saints will use for Smyth — who train with the 53-man first team and can still deputise in a matchday roster. Practice squad players can also be upgraded to the 53-man roster in the event of an injury or a loss of form suffered by one of those first-choice players.
As the Saints’ International Practice Player, Smyth can be temporarily elevated from the practice squad to the Saints’ matchday roster three times this season.
Practice squad players earn $12,500 per week — or $225,000 over the course of an 18-week season.
The Saints can use an international exemption and develop Smyth as their additional practice squad player for up to three years.
Former Derry U20 footballer Jude McAtamney finds himself in an almost identical situation with the New York Giants, on whose practice squad he will land as their international 17th man.
The 24-year-old McAtamney, who went to university in the States in pursuit of an NFL career as a kicker, was never truly expected to overthrow the G-Men’s highly regarded veteran Graham Gano as the franchise’s starter this year and so it was no surprise that he was waived ahead of Tuesday’s roster deadline.
The Giants, however, were always confident that McAtamney would fall back to them after the 24-hour waiver period and they have signed the Swatragh native as their International Practice Player for further development.
As is the case with the Saints and Smyth, the Giants are entitled to use this international exemption for up to three years provided McAtamney doesn’t sign for a different club.
With starting kicker Gano now 37, Big Blue may look to play the long game with McAtamney, who won an Ulster U20 title with Derry in 2018 before moving to the USA three years later.
McAtamney, who came through the Australian-based ProKick academy, earned a scholarship to Division II football school Chowan University in North Carolina in 2021.
He transferred to Rutgers, who play at the highest level of college football, in 2022.
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Irish kickers Smyth and McAtamney earn practice-squad spots with Saints and Giants
IRISH KICKERS CHARLIE Smyth and Jude McAtamney will continue their NFL journeys having been added to the practice squads of the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants respectively.
Former Down senior Gaelic football goalkeeper Smyth, 22, is set to return to the Saints having been cut ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to reduce their first-team roster to 53 players.
While the Saints ultimately opted for Year 2 kicker Blake Grupe as their starter for the 2024 season, they have been impressed with Smyth who began kicking an American football only a year ago and has significantly more leg distance than Grupe.
The Saints were keen to retain Smyth to continue his development but having been left out of their 53-man roster, the Mayobridge native was free for 24 hours to sign to the first team of any of the other 31 NFL franchises per the league’s waiver rules.
This was always an unlikely prospect, however; while he has greatly impressed in practice and on tape, Smyth only got to kick one real-world field-goal — a 37-yard winner on his Saints debut — during pre-season, and so it would have been an enormous risk for another team to sign him as their first-choice kicker without having worked with him personally.
As such, the Saints are now free to add Smyth to their practice squad, which is effectively a group of 16 development players — or 17 with the International Player Pathway exemption that the Saints will use for Smyth — who train with the 53-man first team and can still deputise in a matchday roster. Practice squad players can also be upgraded to the 53-man roster in the event of an injury or a loss of form suffered by one of those first-choice players.
As the Saints’ International Practice Player, Smyth can be temporarily elevated from the practice squad to the Saints’ matchday roster three times this season.
Practice squad players earn $12,500 per week — or $225,000 over the course of an 18-week season.
The Saints can use an international exemption and develop Smyth as their additional practice squad player for up to three years.
Former Derry U20 footballer Jude McAtamney finds himself in an almost identical situation with the New York Giants, on whose practice squad he will land as their international 17th man.
The 24-year-old McAtamney, who went to university in the States in pursuit of an NFL career as a kicker, was never truly expected to overthrow the G-Men’s highly regarded veteran Graham Gano as the franchise’s starter this year and so it was no surprise that he was waived ahead of Tuesday’s roster deadline.
The Giants, however, were always confident that McAtamney would fall back to them after the 24-hour waiver period and they have signed the Swatragh native as their International Practice Player for further development.
As is the case with the Saints and Smyth, the Giants are entitled to use this international exemption for up to three years provided McAtamney doesn’t sign for a different club.
With starting kicker Gano now 37, Big Blue may look to play the long game with McAtamney, who won an Ulster U20 title with Derry in 2018 before moving to the USA three years later.
McAtamney, who came through the Australian-based ProKick academy, earned a scholarship to Division II football school Chowan University in North Carolina in 2021.
He transferred to Rutgers, who play at the highest level of college football, in 2022.
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