Year after year, the professional football career is a serious consideration for Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, not just because of the typical reasons a veteran player might think about whether or not he’s ready for another season. Rather, the offensive lineman has another career entirely just waiting for him on the other side, giving him vocational options that other players do not have.
This offseason. Duvernay-Tardif has plenty of time to look at his options and make up his mind, but even in the late winter, he sounds like a man who is not ready to be a doctor full-time just yet. In fact, he not only knows he wants to play another year but he knows which team he’d rather play for.
In a recent interview with Mark Carman of FanSided on the Stacking the Box podcast, Duvernay-Tardif spoke about his medical career, his offseason considerations, and where he wants to play in 2021.
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif wants to keep playing for another year with the Jets.
“Honestly I think I’m just going to let my agent work and see what he comes up with,” said Duvernay-Tardif. “For me, it’s never really been a number thing. It’s a culture thing, a fit with the coaches, with the mentality, with the type of offense. I’ve been really pleased with my 8 weeks with the New York Jets, so I hope to stay there.”
For as long as he’s been a player in the National Football League, Duvernay-Tardif has been a man with a foot in two worlds. That he’s been able to compete for an even win starting roles on teams like the Kansas City Chiefs is a testament to his tremendous talent, hard work, and determination is impressive enough. Yet somehow he’s been able to balance a career in medicine alongside it by completing his training while playing for the Chiefs in his early years.
In 2020, Duvernay-Tardif was the first player to opt-out due to the COVID-19 pandemic for a full season in order to go serve on the front lines with other medical workers in his native Quebec. Duvernay-Tardif returned in 2021 to the Chiefs but had lost his starting role as a right guard to rookie Trey Smith as part of a complete offensive line overhaul that also brought in Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, and Orlando Brown Jr.
By midseason, the Chiefs had a chance to deal Duvernay-Tardif to a team that would give him a chance to play and he took it, waiving his no-trade clause for New York. In return, the Chiefs got a bit of cap relief and a veteran tight end in Dan Brown, who would eventually be released and returned to the Jets.
Duvernay-Tardif started seven games in eight weeks for the Jets, which speaks to both his talent and the team’s needs up front. Now that LDT is a free agent for the first time in his career, he must field offers while also waiting for teams like the Jets to assess all of their options. However, given the security he would provide and the competition along the interior, it makes sense for the Jets to bring him back on a one-year deal at least.
The Chiefs originally drafted Duvernay-Tardif in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.