National Football League offensive guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif of Montreal, Quebec announced his retirement on Thursday at the age of 32 according to Rogers Sportsnet. A medical doctor, he played seven seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs (2015 to 2019), and the New York Jets (2021 and 2022).
In 73 games, Duvernay-Tardif had one career solo tackle. It came in a 23-6 Jets loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Duvewrnay-Tardif will be mostly remembered for a decision he made in 2020. After winning the 2020 Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs on February 2 in a 31-20 Chiefs win over the San Francisco 49ers, Duvernay-Tardif made the decision not to play the 2020 NFL regular season because he believed it was more important at the time for him to work in the Canadian healthcare system. The world was experiencing Coronavirus, and Duvernay-Tardif worked in a Montreal long term care facility. As a result, he won the 2020 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year, the 2020 Lou Marsh Award presented to the Canadian Athlete of the Year, and the 2021 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award at the annual ESPYs (yearly ESPN Awards in the United States).
Duvernay-Tardif played his university football at McGill in Montreal. He was the best lineman in Canadian University Sport in 2013, and then was drafted in the sixth round, 200th overall, by the Chiefs in the 2014 NFL Draft.
