Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
| No. 76 – Kansas City Chiefs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Guard | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born: | February 11, 1991 Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 321 lb (146 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| University: | McGill | ||||||
| NFL draft: | 2014 / round: 6 / pick: 200 | ||||||
| CFL draft: | 2014 / round: 3 / pick: 19 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| |||||||
| Roster status: | Active | ||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
| |||||||
| Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2015 | |||||||
| |||||||
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (born February 11, 1991) is a Canadian-born American 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 college football at McGill and is the tenth player in NFL Draft history to be selected from a Canadian university.
Early life
Duvernay-Tardif was born in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec and grew up in Montreal. He played football as a child, but did not play in high school. His native language is French.[1]
College 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 CIS, and was named an All-Canadian for the second consecutive season.[2]
He balanced college football with his studies in medicine. 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 player in Canada."[3]
Professional career
2014 NFL Draft
Duvernay-Tardif attended a pro day in Montreal, which was attended by nine teams from the NFL and four from the Canadian Football League (CFL). He ran a 4.94-second 40-yard dash, registered a 31.5 inch vertical and completed 34 reps on the bench press.[4] He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round (200th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft.[5] Since the inception of the NFL Draft, Duvernay-Tardif is the tenth player to be chosen from a Canadian university.[6]
CFL Draft
In the CFL's Amateur Scouting Bureau final rankings, he was ranked as the best player of players eligible for the 2014 CFL Draft, a position he held throughout the entirety of the season.[7] 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).[8]
Kansas City Chiefs
On May 14, 2014, he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs to a rookie contract.[9]
On September 13, 2015 Duvernay-Tardif made his first career start for the Chiefs playing against the Houston Texans.
Personal
Duvernay-Tardif continues to study toward a medical degree. In May 2014, he commented, "I’m in my third year of medicine and have one more year in order to become a doctor. The plan right now is that I’m going to be able to do two months per year during the offseason for four years, and I’m going to graduate as a doctor in probably 2017 or 2018 or something like that."[10]
He 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. Duvernay-Tardif says that he hopes that his work will help to prevent concussions in football.[6]
He is the grandson of former Quebec cabinet minister Guy Tardif.[11]
References
- ^ Silverstein, Tom (May 5, 2014). "Packers likely to bring fourth quarterback to camp". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Awards piling up for McGill medical student and football player Laurent Duvernay-Tardif
- ^ Niesen, Joan (March 24, 2014). "Heal Thyself". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "McGill offensive lineman Duvernay-Tardif looking forward to NFL draft". Canada.com. May 6, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Canadian OL Duvernay-Tardif Drafted by Chiefs in Sixth Round
- ^ a b "McGill medical student chosen in NFL draft". CTV News Montreal. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Final Scouting Bureau rankings revealed
- ^ "Laurent Duvernay-Tardif falls to 19th overall to Calgary". cfl.ca. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
- ^ "Chiefs sign Laurent Duvernay-Tardif". profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
- ^ Paylor, Terez (May 15, 2014). "Chiefs sixth-round pick Laurent Duvernay-Tardif agrees to contract". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "NFL et médecine: le beau risque de Laurent Duvernay-Tardif" [NFL and medicine: the bold risk of Laurent Duvernay-Tardif]. L'actualité (in French). October 30, 2015. Retrieved November 28, 2015.