The Montreal Alouettes acquired the rights to offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif from the Calgary Stampeders on Thursday in exchange for two conditional picks.
If Duvernay-Tardif signs a deal with the Alouettes or any other CFL team, Montreal would send its next second round pick to Calgary. The Stampeders would then have the option to trade the next first round pick to the Alouettes, if it turns out to be higher than Calgary’s.
Should the Alouettes not have a first round pick the following season, this option would apply the following year.
“Laurent is a football icon in Montreal and Quebec,” Alouettes GM Danny Maciocia said in a release. “We wish him the best success with his football career moving forward, and are satisfied knowing that if he does play in Canada, he will do so in a city and a stadium that he knows very well.”
The 31-year-old Quebecer announced in June that he would be putting his NFL career on hold after being accepted into a residency program at a Montreal-area hospital.
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Duvernay-Tardif played 54 games in five NFL seasons, helping the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl in the 2019 season.
He chose not to play in the NFL in 2020 and to focus on his career in medicine, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to help those who needed it most. This decision earned him Sports Illustrated’s annual Sportsman of the Year honours.
READ MORE: Duvernay-Tardif putting NFL career on hold to do his residency
He has been an unrestricted NFL free agent since March after finishing last season with the Jets. He said he’s not retiring from football, just taking care of medical requirements needed to become a physician. The guard plans to reassess both his football interest as well as that of NFL clubs in September.
A sixth-round pick (200th overall) in the 2014 NFL Draft, Duvernay-Tardif played in eight games with the New York Jets last season.
The Stampeders claimed him in the third round (19th overall) in the 2014 CFL Draft.