KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two days after signing a contract extension with the Kansas City Chiefs worth $41 million, guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was back in his hometown of Montreal tending to his other passion: medicine.
Duvernay-Tardif was making his rounds visiting geriatric patients at an area hospital Thursday as part of his medical school curriculum at Montreal’s McGill University.
“The cutoff is usually 65 and older and we’re kind of the specialist in geriatric syndromes: delirium, dementia, really frail people and polypharmacy [the effects of taking multiple medications for differing health problems],” Duvernay-Tardif said in a conference call with reporters who cover the Chiefs. “So we’re giving a consult from either emergency or from the wards about patients that have one of those conditions. Our job is to assess them and make recommendations and then to follow them up.’’
Duvernay-Tardif went about his business as if his football world wasn’t turned upside down earlier in the week. The Chiefs committed to their 2014 sixth-round draft pick, selected on his athletic ability, smarts and potential because he had never played the 11-man version of football, in a way that was shocking. He’s one of the NFL’s highest-paid guards.
That doesn’t change his plans with regard to med school.
“I took Monday and Tuesday off because I had to fly to Kansas City,’’ Duvernay-Tardif said, sounding slightly guilty about having to make the quick but very lucrative business trip to sign his new contract.
“It’s actually something I promised myself, that I was going to graduate. I’m going to finish next year, on schedule, by May 2018.’’
Duvernay-Tardif will remain in Montreal and in med school for the next couple of months. He will return to Kansas City in May for the start of offseason practice, using the same arrangement he has since being drafted by the Chiefs.
“For me, it’s a question of principle,’’ Duvernay-Tardif said. “My message I try to pass on to kids and people who are playing football right now at the lower levels in Canada is that it’s possible to combine both passions at the same time. I’ve always had a passion for medical school and I’ve always had a passion for football. I think it’s my duty to finish my studies. Plus, I’m so close from finishing. I have four more months left. I’ve been studying for that. It’s been like six years now, so I think it just makes sense to finish that.
“Yes, there are going to be a lot of questions about residency and getting specialized because, of course, you need to be a full-time student in order to do that. But I think first things first — let’s finish [med school], let’s get a good season next year and then we’ll figure it out after that.”
Duvernay-Tardif said he plans to play the five years on his Chiefs contract. But medicine will never be far away. He studies on his days off during the season to keep fresh. He rushed back to McGill during the Chiefs’ bye week in 2015 to take an important exam that he had to postpone that summer because he was participating in Chiefs training camp.
On Wednesday, with the ink on his new contract barely dry, he was immersed in it.
“When we hang up, I’m going to go see another patient that just presented an emergency,’’ Duvernay-Tardif said. “So, yeah, I keep myself busy.”
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