NFL lineman graduates from medical school
The average uninformed football spectator sees offensive linemen as big grunting dummies.
“What I think is when most people think of the offensive line, they just think it’s a huge fat guy who stands in the way and runs into other fat guys,” former Chargers center Nick Hardwick told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year.
However, as any former offensive lineman can tell you, offensive linemen are the smartest players on the football field.
The big guys score higher on the Wonderlic test at the NFL scouting combine than any other position. Longtime NFL writer Paul Zimmerman figured out the averages over a five-year period, and offensive tackles came out on top with a median score of 26. Centers were a close second at 25, and guards were fourth at 23 (behind quarterbacks at 24).
The smartest player in recent NFL history is former Ravens center John Urschel, who was working on his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from MIT while playing football.
Now another O-lineman is giving his positional brethren bragging rights.
Chiefs guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif graduated from the medical school at Montreal’s McGill University on Tuesday.
“Today I become a doctor!” he tweeted before the ceremony.
It was the culmination of four years of hard work as Duvernay-Tardif juggled his medical studies with his football responsibilities in Kansas City.
This is it! Today I become a doctor! It also marks the beginning of a great new adventure for all 2018 graduates of @mcgillu Faculty of Medicine. #LDTMD #graduation #passion #nfl #chiefs pic.twitter.com/j4oD1BCuXJ
— Laurent D. Tardif (@LaurentDTardif) May 29, 2018
But his celebration won’t last long.
“So tonight right after graduation I’m going back to Kansas City,” Duvernay-Tardif said Tuesday. “Training camp is starting again tomorrow morning and then the season is right around the corner.
Q: What’s next for Dr. @LaurentDTardif? 🤔
— NFL Canada (@NFLCanada) May 29, 2018
“In terms of medicine, I think I just want to give myself a year in order to think about how am I going to be able to manage residency, because it’s hard to do part-time residency with an NFL career at the same time.
“But really I also want to enjoy the moment right now and really focus 100 percent on football, because we know the Chiefs’ 2018 season is going to be big.”
The 6-foot-5, 321-pound Duvernay-Tardif, who was selected by the Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2014 draft, has become a solid starter at right guard. He’s allowed just two sacks over the past two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I want to focus and see how good I can be,” Duvernay-Tardif told ESPN. “I’m putting medicine on hold in order to really maximize my opportunity in the NFL. I love playing football.”
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