Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: A Blocker Moves to the Pandemic’s Front Line

The NFL really should let Laurent Duvernay-Tardif add "M.D." to the back of his jersey.

Duvernay-Tardif (or "LDT" as many call him, or "Larry" as Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid calls him), requested permission to wear "Duvernay-Tardif, M.D." on his jersey nameplate, and the league rejected his request. That felt silly at the time. Why wouldn't the NFL want to celebrate this remarkably unique member of its organization, who became a Doctor of Medicine while maintaining his role as the starting right guard of the Chiefs?

Anyway, if that decision was silly in 2018, now LDT is a Super Bowl champion and is using his offseason to help combat the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the front lines of the global pandemic.

So maybe the NFL should reconsider.

Not only is Duvernay-Tardif working on the front line, he's now telling his story from it. As told to SI.com's Greg Bishop, LDT has offered a glimpse into his life since the Super Bowl. The full story is worth reading.

After discussing his life immediately after the Super Bowl victory, his hurried vacation and a look back at how quickly things escalated in retrospect, Duvernay-Tardif writes about what happened after he decided to help, while also offering advice and an urgent message.

Soon into the crisis I started to ask how I could help. I reached out to the health ministry and public health authorities, but found out that I fell into a gray area where they didn’t know what to do with me, because I don’t have a license to practice—yet. In the interim, officials briefed me on an almost daily basis, and I used my platform and credentials to relay their messages. In Montreal, for a while, the age group most infected was people between 20 and 29, so there was an issue with enforcing those social distancing measures. I tried to reinforce the need for them.

I did a bunch of interviews with different media entities, and one day, while doing them from my apartment, I looked out and saw people gathering at a picnic table in plain sight. It was so frustrating. You know, this is not like a disease where there’s a simple, magical pill, to make it go away. It’s a virus. The best we can do is supportive measures. It’s simple: Stay home and try to minimize your interactions with people. Follow the guidelines. We need a vaccine, and it’s going to take another year or so to get it.

If we don’t follow the guidelines, more people are going to die. The mortality rate is going to be closer to 5 percent than 1 percent, where it should be. If you stay at home, it's relatively easy, when you think about all those doctors like my friends who are at risk. They’re doing that to protect us. It’s irrational to not respect those measures. It’s such a small individual sacrifice for the greater benefit.

Duvernay-Tardif also mentions the fact that he had to discuss his decision to join the fight with the Chiefs and says that the organization has supported his move to the front lines of the pandemic.

I had to check in with the Chiefs from a contract standpoint. They’ve been amazing. They were proud of the fact that I wanted to go help. They said they would support me.

LDT writes that his first day back at the hospital was Friday, April 24th. He writes about his experience the night before returning, not even knowing that his team had just selected a new running back who he'll be blocking for whenever football returns.

My first day back in the hospital was April 24. I felt nervous the night before, but a good nervous, like before a game, and I packed everything neatly: scrubs, white coat, extra pens, even a second pair of shoes that I could leave in my locker, knowing they were clean. I wasn’t aware the Chiefs had drafted a running back that night in the first round, even though I will block for my future teammate, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, from LSU.

Among many other things in the full story, Duvernay-Tardif also addresses ideas of re-opening non-essential businesses and the eventual return of sports. He ends the piece with this message:

It’s too soon to say when sports might come back. Or what that might look like. What I can say is if we’re not playing in September, knowing all the implications of what sport means for a nation and the money behind this huge industry, there are going to be bigger issues than not playing football.

Click here to read the full piece, which includes more stories from LDT's post-Super Bowl experience, his return to the medical field, and his perspective on where the world will go from here.