Charlie Smyth isn't fazed by having to work while waiting for his turn.

It has been that way since the native of Mayobridge, Northern Ireland, signed with the New Orleans Saints in 2024 after creating a lane to the league via the NFL's International Player Pathway Program.

The kicker was on the Saints' practice squad that year as Blake Grupe handled the duties, and he resumed the position the first 11 games in '25, until Grupe was released after missing eight of his 26 field goal attempts. After Grupe was released, the Saints held tryouts with kickers Justin Tucker and Cade York before choosing Smyth to finish out the season.

Smyth made 12 of 16 field goal attempts last year, including a 47-yarder with six seconds remaining that was the game winner against Carolina on Dec. 14, but New Orleans brought in Tanner Brown as offseason competition. And after Smyth and Brown battled throughout OTAs and minicamps, New Orleans signed former two-time All-Pro Daniel Carlson about a week before training camp ended; Brown was released on the cut to the 53-man roster, Carlson was awarded the kicking job and Smyth headed back to the practice squad.

Until this week.

Carlson missed four of 12 field goal attempts and two point-after attempts in seven games and was released. For the Saints' first game after their bye week, on Sunday against the Browns (5-3) in the Caesars Superdome, Smyth will again be the kicker for New Orleans (2-5).

"Daniel has made some really good kicks for us, I think just the consistency thing," Saints coach Kellen Moore said. "Just felt like this was the best decision for our football team moving forward. These things are never easy, but Charlie has done this for us back in the last year and he'll be ready to go."

Smyth's promise from last season and the improvement shown from practice sessions this year provided the assurance needed.

"You just have to stay ready and really focus on the craft and the process, just coming in here every day with a smile on your face," Smyth said. "Even though you think nobody sees what you're doing, it shows that they do. I just love the process and getting better, and I'm really excited about Sunday.

"I think last years' experience is definitely going to stand by me. I thought last year was great. It wasn't perfect but there were a lot of good moments — we had some big kicks in those games last year and I was really happy with how I felt in those moments and how I executed. We can build on top of that and focus on a really good session Friday and that'll lead us into Sunday."

Three of his four misses last year came from the left hash, due to a correctable error.

"It was just getting his alignment from the ball to be exactly the same every time," special teams coordinator Phil Galiano said. "Because the issue that we found was, when he would (plant) his left foot, he was getting too far toward the goalpost and what that was doing was, it was closing his hips off. He wasn't going to get the ball to go straight; he was pushing the ball to the right because his plant foot was too far down field. So, I think we have that fixed."

The fix included using a tape measure to mark the desired distance, and use that measurement as the guideline to gain consistency.

"For me it's just a confidence thing of just repping it over and over again this past six or seven weeks, and just making kicks," Smyth said.

"I've had a lot of time now to take a look at that and clean it up. All the little things – there's always something, just like a golfer, you're always trying to clean up stuff. For me, I haven't been doing it as long as other guys but I don't really care about that anymore. I'm just here, I'm grateful for the opportunity.

"It's time to just go ball out and execute, that's really where my focus is at. It's great having all the support from home but for me now, I'm in a position like, that's great but I just have to focus on being a great player for this team, and that's what I'm trying to be."

Guidance toward helping achieve that goal partly was provided by Carlson.

"Daniel is one of my favorite people I've been around in the NFL," Smyth said. "I know it's kind of like, it can be weird whenever you're both the same position and you're in the same building but genuinely, he's one of the nicest people I've ever been around. From whenever he came in, we'd just talk kicking all the time. We both love it.

"I learned so much from him, and even how he goes about his weekly habits during the week, that I'm going to apply to how I go about things going forward. He's been a great pro; he was All-Pro twice. If I can have the career he's had, then we're doing well. He's going to get another opportunity again."

But for now, after another waiting session, the opportunity with the Saints belongs to Smyth and he knows the expectations.

"You've got to make all your kicks," he said. "That's just the way it is and if you don't, that's not going to be good enough."