Have a day, Charlie Smyth. The New Orleans Saints’ rookie kicker had a good day at Saturday’s training camp practice. Smyth connected on all seven of his field goal tries with his longest kick traveling 59 yards. Last year’s kicker Blake Grupe might be on notice.
Now that’s not to say he enjoyed a perfect morning of work at UC Irvine. Smyth struggled on his kickoff reps, sending too many of his tries out of bounds, as noted by Nola.com’s Luke Johnson. That’s not too surprising. He’s a former Gaelic football player from Northern Ireland who is still picking up the game and the responsibilities of his position. He’s going to make mistakes.
Still, performances like this are encouraging. Grupe was too inconsistent last season. While he did hit on each of his 40 extra point attempts, Grupe missed seven field goals from distances of 29, 29, 46, 47, 51, 52, and 54 yards. Those short-yardage misses are what’s most concerning.
If Smyth can keep growing and iron out his own inconsistencies, he might just put Grupe in a tough spot. Remember, Grupe himself was an undrafted rookie just one year ago. He displaced a former Pro Bowler in Wil Lutz. It shouldn’t shock anyone if Smyth pushes him aside by September, too. At the same time the Saints can afford to give Smyth a longer runway. He joined the team with an International Player Pathway exemption which means he can stay on the team with an extra practice squad spot until they’re confident he’s ready. We’ll just have to see how this battle plays out in the weeks ahead.
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