Saints signed Kicker Charlie Smyth (re-signed to 2 year deal)

St. Geezy said

Agreed...our treatment of the kicker position especially frustrates me.

Why can't we just be a normal team that goes out and signs a "name brand" free agent kicker instead of doing all this experimentation stuff? Every year there are more than decent free agent kickers out there that have played at a high level (guys in recent years like Matt Prater, Brandon McManus, Greg Zurelein, Nick Folk, etc. have been available).

But no, we always gotta get cute and go find the hidden undrafted guys no one has ever heard of or guys that have never put on a football helmet in their lives.

Click to expand...

This looks like the first time we’ve considered a Direct international-sport kicker. Lou Hedley is Australian-born and played Aussie-ball, but he was a college football punter in the U.S. at Miami all four college years. We haven’t commonly went the international route with our past kickers. Grupe, Lutz, Morstead, Gillikin, Hartley, Maher, Graham are all U.S. born. All kicked on major D-1 college teams, except for Lutz at Georgia State.

There’s great football talent all over the world. Prater, McManus, Zuerlein, & Folk are currently signed, older around 35+ and some dealt with inconsistency. Teams appear to be looking for fresh talent, big legs with possible higher ceilings of consistency. A lot of popular U.S.-born NFL kickers weren’t always kickers their whole lives in HS.

With the NFL International Player Pathway taking off, several players from the program are getting tryouts with teams right now. Saints aren’t the only team doing their diligence on an international specialist. It’s just a tryout to see what Smyth could offer.