James McCourt looks unlikely to become the first Irish-born NFL player in 37 years after he was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars this week.
American football teams tend to keep only one kicker on their 53-man squads and the Irishman, who was born in Dublin before moving to Florida when he was eight, appeared to be in a battle with former Indianapolis Colt Jake Verity to grab the spot.
McCourt looked to be ahead in that race after posting impressive stats in training and landing a 54-yard field goal in a pre-season game against Atlanta last Saturday.
However, the Detroit Lions decided to cut Riley Patterson on Tuesday and the Jaguars have opted to go for the more experienced free agent, who played in seven NFL games last year, over McCourt and Verity.
.@Jaguars grab an early 3-0 lead over the Falcons
— NFL (@NFL) August 27, 2022
📺: #JAXvsATL on @NFLNetwork (check local listings)
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/OuabexEqsU pic.twitter.com/qed3vJlIOD
McCourt was also in the running for the kicker spot at the Los Angeles Chargers but Dustin Hopkins has retained the position he held last year.
Kickers are often replaced due to injury or loss of form so McCourt will hope to get further try-out opportunities over the course of the NFL season, which begins next week.
Dublin-born place-kicker Neil O'Donoghue was the last Irish-born player to play in a regular-season game, for the then-St Louis based Cardinals in 1985.
