Laurent Duvernay-Tardif pauses career to begin medical residency

Former Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif will start his medical residency in July 2022 and re-evaluate his football option in September.

Before last season’s trade deadline, the Kansas City Chiefs traded long-time offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to the New York Jets in exchange for tight end Daniel Brown. The trade came as a bit of a surprise to many Chiefs fans since he was viewed as a solid depth option along a very good offensive line.

On Wednesday, Duvernay-Tardif announced on Instagram that he is starting his medical residency at McGill University this upcoming July and placing his NFL career on hold until the start of the regular season.

On the other side of his residency work this summer, Dan Ralph reported that four teams made offers for Duvernay-Tardif this spring, so he will likely have very real opportunities to consider in the fall.

The Chiefs drafted Duvernay-Tardif in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft with the 200th overall pick. He played at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he also attended medical school. He is only the fourth NFL player to have graduated from medical school, and as of the 2021 season, the only active player. In addition to being a doctor, not many players are drafted into the NFL from a Canadian university and only 67 Canadian players overall have been drafted into the NFL since 2000.

Over his 7-plus years in Kansas City, Duvernay-Tardif appeared in 60 games and started 57 of those, including his brief New York Jets tenure, he appeared in 68 career games and started 64.

Though he never made a Pro Bowl, Duvernay-Tardif accomplished an even more rare feat: Graduating from medical school and winning a Super Bowl within his NFL career, the first to accomplish that since Milt McColl, who did it with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s.

Even though this is a “see you later” and not a goodbye, it’s been amazing to watch Duvernay-Tardif simultaneously grow as a football and a medical doctor. If he does decide to hang up the cleats for good, I don’t think anyone would blame him.