Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Announces Retirement from NFL to Pursue Medical Career

While Laurent Duvernay-Tardif might not have been the best player on some notoriously poor McGill football teams, he certainly was the most eminent. Despite a limited grasp of English upon his arrival at the university in 2010, he combined high-level athletics with the pursuit of a medical degree without skipping a beat.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

But classroom work and frequent labs meant the Mont-St-Hilaire native usually arrived late for football practice — an annoyance the coaching staff tolerated because a) they had little choice in the matter and b) they realized Duvernay-Tardif was destined for a pro career.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

So it hardly came as a surprise when he arrived late Thursday afternoon for his retirement news conference, held in the east end zone at Molson Stadium. But kudos to Duvernay-Tardif for being, unofficially, only four minutes tardy.

And despite his claim earlier Thursday on social media that he was at peace with his decision, the deeper he got into his opening statement on the field — one that lasted nearly eight minutes — the more emotional he became, stopping frequently to dab away tears before finally ending his speech. He then reverted to taking questions from a throng of journalists.

“I think I’m an emotional guy, to be honest,” said Duvernay-Tardif, who spent nine years playing right guard in the NFL, mostly with Kansas City, becoming the first Quebec-born player to win a Super Bowl with the Chiefs in February 2020. “I’m really close to my emotions, and it served me well throughout my career.

“I’m really proud because I seized that opportunity of playing in the NFL and the path wasn’t really clear in how to get there. We just went with it and did everything we could in order to get there. What I realized once I got there, people were looking for (players) cheaper and healthier than you to replace you. That’s why careers are so short in the NFL. For me to continue my studies and my doctorate in medicine … while performing at a high level on the field, I think that’s what I’m the most proud of. Not just defining yourself as a football player has really served me well in my career.”

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

As much as Duvernay-Tardif will be remembered for his football exploits, his legacy undoubtedly will revolve around his medical career. He graduated from McGill in 2018, at the height of his playing days, then turned his back on the Chiefs during the 2020 season, in the midst of COVID-19, to work as an orderly at a long-term care facility during the pandemic. It was a unique story and spoke volumes about the man he had become.

His role in battling COVID resulted in Sports Illustrated naming Duvernay-Tardif one of its Sportspersons of the Year. He was subsequently named a co-recipient of the Northern Star Award, as Canadian athlete of the year.

“For me at that time it sounded like the most rational thing to do,” he said. “I was on the front line of COVID, right after the Super Bowl, for 10 weeks. I was packing my bags to return to Kansas City, the border was closed, there were 70,000 new cases. I saw so much suffering on the front line working in a long-term care facility. I was about to fly to another city and practise a sport I love, just for fun. It just felt like it was the right thing to do to stay here, help my community and make a decision I’d be proud of five, 10 years later — although it probably jeopardized a few years off my career.”

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and his girlfriend Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau walk off the field at Molson Stadium yesterday after the former NFL star announced his retirement. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette

Signed to a five-year US$42.36-million contract — more than $20 million guaranteed along with a $10-million signing bonus — in 2017, the deal was restructured three years later, when the Chiefs were in need of salary cap space. The team moved on without him the year he sat out, and he was traded to the New York Jets in November 2021. Signed to the Jets’ practice squad last November, he was activated Dec. 7.

His final NFL game was the Jets’ season finale against Miami. The previous week against Seattle, he played the entire game as a starter. Drafted in the sixth round by the Chiefs in 2014, Duvernay-Tardif dressed for 79 career games, 71 as a starter. The Alouettes acquired his rights in July 2022 from Calgary, but he never had any intention of playing a down in the CFL.

While his Montreal-based agent, Sasha Ghavami — the two have known each other since 2008, when both were CEGEP students at André Grasset — said there were a few calls from NFL teams this season kicking the tires, it was never Duvernay-Tardif’s intention to keep playing. With his faculties intact, he understood that his football resumé, at age 32, was complete.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Duvernay-Tardif had been working as a resident at the Jewish General Hospital. He took a leave of absence last season to play for the Jets, but intends to resume that position at the hospital in the next few months. He refused to comment on the state of Quebec’s health-care system on Thursday, saying the day was reserved to celebrate his career and retirement.

“Now was just the time to close that door and prioritize my other career,” he said. “I think (football’s) over.”

2023-09-22 03:04:44
#Zurkowsky #Quebecs #DuvernayTardif #turns #page #terrific #NFL #career