Canadian earns big NFL money

Most med school students nearing graduation give up sideline jobs. That’s not where the money is.

You’ll pardon Laurent Duvernay-Tardif if he hangs onto his.

On Tuesday his “sideline” employer, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, confirmed the native of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., has signed a new contract — reportedly worth US$41.25 million over the next five years, with US$20 million guaranteed.

“That’s a big vote of confidence from the Chiefs,” the 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive guard said in a phone interview from Kansas City. “I love the organization and I’m just glad that they see some potential in me and want to keep me on the team in the next couple of years.

“Getting the actual contract means more to me than the actual money.”

It’s uncommon enough for an NFLer to receive such a big-money extension before the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, but especially rare when that rookie didn’t play a down in his rookie season — not because of injury, but because he just wasn’t ready to play.

Duvernay-Tardif had all the physical tools coming out of Montreal’s McGill University in 2014: ideal height and weight for an NFL offensive lineman, paired with uncommon speed, power and tenacity. But DuvernayTardif was super raw skillswise. He barely practised his senior year to attend premed classes.

The Chiefs drafted him in the sixth round but, in converting him from a tackle to a guard, didn’t play him a down in 2014. DuvernayTardif started 13 of 16 games in 2015 and 14 this past season, when analytics websites began to give him high grades after many games.

The Chiefs clearly love his potential to pay him like this after just 27 starts.

The 26-year-old thus becomes the highest-paid Canadian offensive side football player ever, eclipsing the contract Toronto native and Los Angeles Chargers left guard Orlando Franklin signed in 2015 (US$35.5 million over five years, with US$15.5 million guaranteed).

The highest paid Canadian football player ever is Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford of Windsor, Ont., who in 2015 signed a five-year deal worth US$45 million, with US$27.5 million guaranteed.

To put the contract in perspective, Duvernay-Tardif will earn an average annual salary of US$8.45 million over the contract, when the salary cap of every CFL team in 2017 is $5.15 million Cdn.

For this monster-sized lineman, whose first name fellow Chiefs players and coaches anglicized to “Larry” and whom they’ve nicknamed “Frenchy,” earning tens of millions over the next several years for playing a game he loves is not a bad way to bide his time until graduating from one of the world’s most prestigious medical schools at hometown McGill University.

Duvernay-Tardif planned to graduate this spring, but because the Chiefs won the AFC West and hosted a playoff game Jan. 16, he happily had to shorten his off-season interning fieldwork schedule, meaning he can’t graduate until spring 2018.

After grudgingly being “stuck with” three weeks of holidays, he began interning earlier this month in geriatrics medicine before switching to two months more of emergency room interning (including one month at a French-language hospital).

He said he feels bad he’ll miss all of April’s and part of May’s voluntary spring workouts with the Chiefs. Duvernay-Tardif said he appreciates the Chiefs — especially head coach Andy Reid — are so accepting of his other life’s passion.

“Every time the season ends, coach Reid takes the time to understand my schedule and what I’m trying to accomplish. He shows a lot of flexibility, and says he doesn’t have any problem with me showing up a little bit later.

“It’s not every head coach that has the same approach that coach Reid has. His mother went to McGill University medical school too, actually, so we have a lot to talk about.”

Duvernay-Tardif said he wants to become either a sports doctor or an emergency trauma specialist.

When he does become a full-fledged doctor next year, he’ll already be set for life financially.

“It’s hard to realize what that kind of money corresponds to,” he said. “I think it’s just too much money to (comprehend). It’s going to take a while to realize that aspect of it.

“I promised myself three years ago to finish my medical degree. The No. 1 plan was always medical school. Now there’s a really nice addition to that and I think football has become, at least for now, the central part of my life. But it’s very important for me to finish med school too.”

Although he was in Kansas City to sign his contract, Duvernay-Tardif couldn’t wait to return to Montreal.

He’ll resume interning in a geriatrics unit at a hospital whose name he won’t disclose, because last off-season autograph-seekers chased him into hospital areas they didn’t belong.

“It’s interesting,” he said of his geriatrics responsibilities. “We specialize in what we call geriatric syndrome (which) is everything that’s related to delirium. We know that older people — especially in the context of stress, related to an operation or infection — can become delirious. We’re the people that can specialize in that regard.

“Also, there are different type of gait issues, or dementia — everything related to cognition. I’m working as a consultant, either in emergency or on the wards. People are asking for our expertise on those kinds of issues, for elderly patients who are really frail or at risk of complications because of their age.

“We are asked to optimize treatments ... so people can return home as they were when they first were entered the hospital. Functionality is a big part of geriatrics.” Canadian offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif signed a five-year contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs that includes US$20 million in guaranteed money. That makes him one of the highest-paid guards in the NFL.