Charlie Smyth will stay with the New Orleans Saints after the County Down kicker signed to their practice squad.

On Sunday, it was confirmed the Mayobridge man had not made the cut for a place on the NFC South franchise’s 53-man squad before the start of the NFL season, and he was placed on the waiver wire.

It gave other teams the option to offer the former Gaelic footballer a contract, but that did not come to pass before Monday’s 17:00 BST deadline.

Instead, Smyth will return to the Saints practice squad where he spent his entire first season and began last term, before making his debut when elevated to the full squad for a Week 13 defeat by the Miami Dolphins following Blake Grupe’s release.

Smyth was also elevated in the following two weeks and a game-winning field goal against the Carolina Panthers was enough for him to earn a three-year contract for Kellen Moore’s team as he saw out the season as first choice.

Last season, he made 12 of 16 field goal attempts and was perfect from 13 extra-point tries, putting him in a strong position to earn the number one slot for this season.

However, the 25-year-old had a mixed pre-season, initially facing competition from Tanner Brown before the Saints then brought in former Las Vegas Raiders’ two-time All-Pro kicker Daniel Carlson whose 53-yard field goal won their final pre-season game against the Dallas Cowboys on Friday.

With Carlson winning the race for the number one spot, Smyth and Brown were waived with neither picked up by another team on Monday before the Saints finalised their 16-player practice squad.

As Smyth retains his international player pathway [IPP] status, he can be added as a 17th member and the Saints have decided to take up that option, ensuring he will remain in New Orleans for a third season since graduating from the IPP.