At 29 aces, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif could well spend his season in the emergency services of Montreal rather than on the American football fields. The Canadian who plays in Kansas City announced to give up playing in the NFL in 2020-2021, due to Covid-19, while in the United States, more than four million cases have been identified. The American Football League and the players had just agreed on the terms of the resumption of competition, set for September 10.
But the colossus of almost two meters does not intend to take a sabbatical year. Rather, on the other hand, take advantage of his medical degree, obtained in 2018 after eight years of studying during the off-season. “I cannot afford to become a potential vector of transmission in our communities,” he explained on his Twitter account. If I find myself in a situation involving significant risks, I will do so by treating patients. “
The future of Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who says he has received the support of his team, is, today, not entirely fixed, tempers his friend and agent Sasha Ghavami in the Montreal daily La Presse: “There are still many things to be determined. If he has any interesting educational opportunities, he would consider them. Practical experience in medicine, he would consider it, ”he continues. To officially become a doctor, the Kansas City player has yet to start his residency (NDLR : stage postdoctoral).
On the front line in the face of Covid-19
Footballer or doctor, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, nicknamed LDT, has therefore never decided. He started playing American football relatively late, at the age of 15, without dreaming of turning professional. “Me, at 12, I didn’t even know what the NFL was like,” he told L’Actualité, a Quebec monthly, in October 2015. He landed in the coveted championship in 2014, and must adapt to the American style, as he evolved in his Canadian university at McGill.
Little by little, LDT imposed himself on his post as titular guard. It is he who has the heavy task of protecting quarterback and MVP, Patrick Mahomes. And between two matches, when his playing partners relax, Duvernay-Tardif takes exams. When he won the Super Bowl with the Chiefs last February, the Canadian made history by becoming the first player born in Quebec to win the American championship final.
A return expected in 2021
Two months later, the giant radically changes the scenery by lending a hand to Quebec healthcare staff, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. This experience marks him, but his decision not to play “was taken only recently”, according to his agent.
For the footballer, life on the pitch or in an emergency department is much the same. As an athlete, “you have to learn to be rational, to make logical decisions despite the noise of the crowd. It’s very similar to medicine. You see a patient, there may be blood, different things are happening, but we must be able to focus on what is important, as a team, ”explained the future doctor to the New York Post in February 2020.
By giving up this season, LDT also gives up the 2.75 million dollars (Editor’s note: 2.3 million euros), which he had to pocket. He will still receive $ 150,000 (Editor’s note: 128,000 euros), and the expiry of his contract, signed in 2017 for four years, was postponed for one year. Despite the absence of competition for the Canadian, his agent is not worried: “The reality is that when you arrive in a team, no matter the moment, you must always earn your place”, he testifies in the columns of La Presse.
