Photo: Graham Hughes The canadian Press
“Considering the health risks, I have to do what is best for me”, explained Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.
Quebec’s Laurent Duvernay-Tardif became the first NFL player to make the decision not to play this season because of the pandemic of COVID-19.
Duvernay-Tardif, who won the Super Bowl with the Chiefs in Kansas City last season, has expressed his decision through his Twitter account on Friday night.
“This decision has been one of the most difficult I have had to take in my life, he wrote in his tweet. That said, considering the health risks, I have to do what is best for me. It is for this reason that I decided to take the option not to play this season. “
My decision regarding the 2020 NFL season pic.twitter.com/jrY3nZfNWO
— Laurent D. Tardif (@LaurentDTardif) July 25, 2020
Duvernay-Tardif has decided to exercise an “escape clause” for the season 2020, which was presented by the NFL players Association the league.
According to the terms of this agreement, Duvernay-Tardif and players who do not wish to play this season have until August 3 to make their decision. Once made, this decision becomes irrevocable.
The player from line of Chiefs will not, therefore, his full salary by 2020, but it will receive US $ 150,000, according to two anonymous sources of The Associated Press.
Duvernay-Tardif has signed a five-year contract with the Chiefs in February 2017. He would have pocketed $ 2.75 million this season.
The camps of the NFL should officially begin next week, subject to the approval of the doctors of the league. The recruits, the Chiefs and Houston Texans are already reported since Monday.
“I am convinced that the medical team of the Chiefs has put in place a solid plan to minimize the health risks associated with the COVID-19, has supported the Quebecois. However, as a future health professional, I can not allow myself to become a potential vector of transmission in our communities. “
Duvernay-Tardif received his doctorate of medicine from McGill University in 2018, and during the pandemic of COVID-19 was raging in Quebec, he went to lend a hand at the CHSLD de la Montérégie.
“My experience on the first lines in spring of last year has given me a different perspective in the face of the pandemic, and the stress that it puts on the health system. If I am required to find myself in a situation with significant risks, that I will do in treating patients, ” said Duvernay-Tardif.
The agent Duvernay-Tardif, Sasha Ghavami, has confirmed that there would be no further comment for the time being.
