Chiefs’ Duvernay-tardif an expert in two fields — football and medicine
Canadian has two sides as doctor and NFL guard starting in Super Bowl
Concussions are up once again in the NFL and Dr. Laurent Duvernay-tardif, who has had two of them while playing offensive guard for the Kansas City Chiefs, knows well about the great contradiction that is his life.
He is a professional football player and a doctor, both by choice and talent, employed in the most dangerous of sports.
And he is the longest of all long shots as a Super Bowl starter — a Canadian, a French-canadian, a Canadian university player, a graduate of Mcgill University medical school in Montreal, starting at guard in the Super Bowl.
Other Canadians have started in the Super Bowl before. No other Canadians have started from a Canadian school. So what are the odds of that — a football lottery ticket really — and why would this man of science be willing to play chance with his future of injuring a brain that is clearly among his greatest assets?
Duvernay-tardif does not duck from anything on the field or from any questions, ethical or otherwise, about his involvement in football. Some former players, Matt Dunigan for one, won’t let his children play. Duvernaytardif calls it an honour and a privilege to play in the NFL and knowing all that can happen to him he’s willing to gamble his future on his current love.
“Ten years down the road, I don’t want people to think I was saying concussions weren’t an issue,” Duvernay-tardif said. “What I am is a football player who accepts the risks, and a doctor who tries his best to understand them. I have to be comfortable in both worlds.
“The bottom line is that right now, I’m more attracted to football than anything else in my life.
“It’s a no-brainer for me to keep playing, even with the risks. But that doesn’t mean you stop asking yourself the questions. When you question something, people think you don’t want it. But if I question football and then decide to keep playing, that means I want it more than anything.
“Coaches before the draft all asked me, ‘How do we know you’ll commit to football?’ But Andy Reid (Chiefs coach) was the opposite. He said, ‘If you’re here, even though you have medicine, you must really love football.’ He was the first person who really got it.”
Little known fact: Reid’s mother is a doctor who graduated from medical school at Mcgill.
“There was a connection,” said Duvernay-tardif, “right from the beginning.”
This is the sixth NFL season for the 321-pounder. The first year, coming out of Mcgill, he didn’t dress for a game. The last five seasons he has started at guard for the Chiefs and got to a point where he’s considered in the upper echelon of offensive lineman at his position.
He knows some people think he’s crazy, that he shouldn’t be endangering himself or his future, playing a game that has caused so much damage over the years and more recently with the CTE science, knowing what we now know, there have been too many unfortunate deaths and too many early retirements around the NFL.
Duvernay-tardif, who in the future wants to work in emergency room medicine, absolutely loves the sport and considers it the ultimate team game, but said that with just a touch of concern.
“Football is a great sport, really the ultimate team sport,” said the 28-year-old. “Everybody isn’t the same. There are different kinds of athletes with different circumstances and sizes. But everybody has to do their job and contribute and I think it’s the sport closest to what life is really like. I’ve learned so much from football and team sport.
“And yes, there are health concerns with concussions and skeletal issues, but at the end of the day, I have to look at the big picture. People who are active are better leaders, better human beings, live more balanced lives. You have to look at both sides of this.
“I look at kids and I don’t think contact is necessary when you’re young. If you’re a kid, flag football is a good alternative. I don’t have an answer for parents (who are afraid of putting their children in football), but I feel you have to look at the big picture and what sports can bring to you as a kid and as a young man.”
Duvernay-tardif is not sure he would have played in the NFL if he wasn’t pursuing medicine at the same time and he’s not sure he’d be a doctor today if he didn’t have the discipline of daily football life. For him it works.
At least now it does.
“I answer this question personally, but I feel it’s the same for a lot of players,” Duvernay-tardif said. “You know what you know. Do I still want to play football and is it still worth it for me? For me, right now, in this circumstance, being here (Super Bowl), it’s 100 per cent worth it.
“And I do know this, when I’m done I’m going to miss it dearly.”
Right now, I’m more attracted to football than anything else in my life. It’s a no-brainer for me to keep playing, even with the risks.