Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
No. 76 – Kansas City Chiefs
Position: Guard
Personal information
Full Name: Saint-Jean-Baptiste, Canada
Born/Date of Birth: February 11, 1991
Place of Birth: Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight: 321 lb (146 kg)
Career information
High school: Collège Saint-Hilaire
(Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec)
University: McGill
NFL Draft: 2014 / Round: 6 / Pick: 200
CFL draft: 2014 / Round: 3 / Pick: 19
Career history
Kansas City Chiefs (2014–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (LIV)
J. P. Metras Trophy (2013)
CIS All-Canadian (2012, 2013)

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif CQ (born February 11, 1991) is a Canadian gridiron football guard for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played university football at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the fourth medical school graduate to play in the NFL.

Early life
Duvernay-Tardif was born in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec and grew up in Montreal. He started playing football at age 14, until his family went on a year long sailing trip to the Bahamas. After their return, he resumed playing football at age 16 for his high school. His native language is French.

University career
Duvernay-Tardif attended McGill University, where he was member of the McGill Redmen football team from 2010 to 2013. As a senior, he won the J. P. Metras Trophy, recognizing the Most Outstanding Lineman in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U Sports) system, and was named an All-Canadian for the second consecutive season.

He balanced university football with medical school, prolonging his studies over eight years. In a 2014 article in Sports Illustrated, Joan Niesen said that he "was practicing just once a week—and he was still the best college (sic) player in Canada."[a]

Professional career
Pre-draft
On December 12, 2013, it was announced that Duvernay-Tardif had accepted his invitation to play in the 2014 East-West Shrine Game, in which he was part of Jerry Glanville's East team that defeated the West 23-13. His performance at the East-West Shrine Game helped improve his draft stock. Duvernay-Tardif did not receive an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine. On March 27, 2014, Duvernay-Tardif held a personal pro day in Montreal that was attended by nine NFL teams and four Canadian Football League (CFL) teams. He attended pre-draft visits with multiple teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Green Bay Packers. He also participated at a private workout for the Philadelphia Eagles. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Duvernay-Tardif was projected to be drafted anywhere from the third to fifth round by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the 12th best offensive tackle prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com.

CFL Draft
In the CFL's Amateur Scouting Bureau final rankings, Duvernay-Tardif was ranked as the best eligible player for the 2014 CFL Draft, a position he held throughout the entirety of the season. However, due to the uncertainty as to his availability as a result of his selection in the NFL Draft, he fell in the draft. He was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders in the third round (19th overall).

Kansas City Chiefs
2014
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Duvernay-Tardif in the sixth round (200th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft. Duvernay-Tardif was the 15th offensive tackle drafted in 2014. Since the inception of the NFL Draft, Duvernay-Tardif is the tenth player to be chosen from a Canadian university.

On May 14, 2014, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Duvernay-Tardif to a four-year, $2.34 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $100,300.

Throughout training camp, Duvernay-Tardif competed to be a starting guard against Zach Fulton, Jeffrey Linkenbach, Rishaw Johnson, Mike McGlynn, and Rokevious Watkins. Head coach Andy Reid named Duvernay-Tardif the fifth offensive guard on the depth chart to start the regular season, behind Jeff Allen, Zach Fulton, Jeff Linkenbach, and Mike McGlynn.

2015
On September 13, 2015, Duvernay-Tardif made his first career start for the Chiefs in the season opener against the Houston Texans. He went on to play all 16 games with 13 starts for the Chiefs in 2015.

2016
In the 2016 season, Duvernay-Tardif started all 14 games he played in at right guard for the Chiefs.

2017
On February 28, 2017, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Duvernay-Tardif to a five-year, $42.36 million contract that includes $20.20 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $10 million.

2018
Duvernay-Tardif started the first five games of the 2018 season at right guard before suffering a fractured fibula in Week 5. He was placed on injured reserve on October 9. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said he will not be out for the season and will be reactivated at some point later in the season. However, his injury was worse than originally thought, and he didn't start practicing again until the last week of the schedule. He was activated off injured reserve on January 15, 2019, prior to the Chiefs AFC Championship matchup against the New England Patriots.

2019
In 2019, Duvernay-Tardif played 14 games. On February 2, 2020, the Chiefs went on to win Super Bowl LIV, their first championship in 50 years.

2020
On April 22, 2020, the Chiefs restructured Duvernay-Tardiff’s contract to free up salary cap space. On July 24, 2020, he announced via his Twitter account he had chosen to opt-out of playing during the 2020 season as a precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life
Duvernay-Tardif is the fourth NFL player to have graduated from medical school, and as of the 2018 season, the only active player. He graduated from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in May 2018 with a Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery (M.D., Ch.M.). He primarily studied during the off-season prior to mandatory off-season workouts. He had the support of the Chiefs coaching staff, especially head coach Andy Reid, whose mother also graduated from McGill's medical school. Following his graduation, he petitioned the NFL to add the title "M.D." on the back of his jersey. The league denied his request, prompting fans and writers to criticize the league's decision. He has not completed any postgraduate medical training. Duvernay-Tardif provided the convocation address at McGill's 2020 graduation ceremony.

During the 2018 offseason, Duvernay-Tardif worked as a feature reporter for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) during its coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Duvernay-Tardif has been working with the developers of Shockbox, a device that is placed inside of football helmets to measure the impacts received on the field. He says that he hopes that his work will help to prevent concussions in football.

In 2019, Duvernay-Tardif was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.

Duvernay-Tardif is the grandson of former Quebec cabinet minister Guy Tardif.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Duvernay-Tardif wanted to help combat the virus outbreak and returned to his hometown in Canada to work at a long-term care facility to assist.

News article is edited by: soni - 15-12-2021, 18:52
Reason: Image Resized