Derry's Jude McAtamney has been released by the New York Giants.
The Irishman had been with New York Giants as their designated international player and was handed a golden opportunity this season when starting kicker Graham Gano was injured.
The Giants signed eight-season veteran Younghoe Koo as cover but opted to promote McAtamney to the main roster instead.
After a promising start to the NFL season, McAtamney made the headlines after the side’s loss to the Denver Broncos with the player missing two extra points, which have a 96% average success rate in the NFL, with the Bronco landing a last-gasp field goal to win 33-32.
The Giants quickly cut him from the roster, but re-signed him to their practice squad as their designated international player – however that is now set to go to German tight end Maximilian Mang.
In the aftermath of the Broncos loss, McAtamney received a torrent of abuse online and spoke to RTÉ Radio 1’s Inside Sport about the impact.
"The social media aspect of it blew up, there was no blocking it out," he admits.
"[But] I felt like, if I was able to read messages about people that were messaging me to go kill myself, and not let it bother me, in a weird way, I was like 'What's the worst they can throw at me then?
"That was nearly my way of dealing with it, was looking at the stuff and being like 'Look, this doesn't actually affect me. It doesn't bother me because I don't feel these things about myself and I know what I can bring to the table.
"I would say, I think I took it better than what people maybe thought. I think it caught some people by surprise.
"But as a professional, you've just got to accept that. That's part of the bargain. If you're willing to accept the good days and all the benefits that come with professional sport, I think when the bad days come around and the negative things happen, you can't really complain about it because that's part and parcel of the job."
