Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill show support to Laurent Duvernay-Tardif for opting out of 2020 season

Chiefs guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif became the first NFL player to opt out of the 2020 season

On Friday night, some big breaking news was released out of Kansas City with right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif announcing he will not be playing for the Chiefs this season due to the growing concerns of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 29-year-old guard has decided that instead of taking the field with his gridiron brothers, he’ll remain in Canada and work at a long-term care facility and continue to help those fighting the virus. Duvernay-Tardif also has his medical degree and has made it clear that if he’s going to go into battle this fall, he’ll be doing so trying to take down the coronavirus.

Since his decision was made public, Duvernay-Tardif has been showered with love and support from fans and teammates. This includes Tyreek Hill and Patrick Mahomes, who did so via Twitter shortly after Duvernay-Tardif released the news with a tweet of his own.

Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill show support to Chiefs teammate Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

Hill posted saying he was going to miss his brother in the locker room, but that he loves Duvernay-Tardif’s selfless decision to take on the coronavirus instead. Mahomes went on to retweet Hill’s post, showing his love to his offensive lineman as well.

The Chiefs are fresh off winning the Super Bowl last season, with Duvernay-Tardif playing a big roll for the offensive line throughout the year. The 6-5, 321-pounder started 14 games and was known for bullying opposing defensive linemen around.

While not having him in the trenches this upcoming campaign will be a bit of a blow for Kansas City’s offense, fans have been nothing but respectful of the player’s call to sit the year out.

Being only 29 years old, this doesn’t mean Duvernay-Tardif’s playing days are over. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed the coronavirus pandemic will slow down and people can slowly but surely get back to their everyday lives. Once this happens, Chiefs fans can hopefully see Duvernay-Tardif providing pancake blocks on the regular once again.