Just one year after choosing to pass on a season in the NFL to focus on fighting COVID-19 in his native Canada, Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif will have his return to the field delayed due to injury.
Duvernay-Tardif has been diagnosed with a broken right hand that will keep him off the practice fields and out of games for four to six weeks, placing his availability for September’s regular season games in jeopardy.
The NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport says that no surgery will be needed and there is a chance that “LDT” could play in Week 1, when the Chiefs kickoff the regular season at Arrowhead Stadium against the Cleveland Browns on September 12th.
Last season, Duvernay-Tardif, a medical school graduated, missed the entire season, choosing instead to use that medical training in facilities in and around Montreal. While the loss of a key returning starter will hurt the Chiefs with early season depth and development, the offensive line was fortified in a big way this offseason, with the team acquiring Orlando Brown, Joe Thuney, Austin Blythe, and Kyle Long, and drafting two linemen in Oklahoma center Creed Humphrey (Round 3) and Tennessee guard Trey Smith (Round 6).
In Tuesday’s day at camp in St. Joseph, the Chiefs dodged stormy skies early before having yet another productive day, according to the “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus, in audio provided by Chiefs.com:
Kansas City’s first preseason game is coming up this Saturday night in Santa Clara, California against the San Francisco 49ers, with defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo telling the media on Tuesday that tackling skills will be high on the list of items he will be watching from his group:
Kansas City’s second preseason game will be at Arizona on Friday night, August 20th, with the only preseason game at Arrowhead Stadium seeing a visit from the Minnesota Vikings on Friday, August 27th at 7 o’clock.
