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Kansas City Chiefs RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif has been absent from training camp for the past four practices.
The Chiefs officially declared Duvernay-Tardif’s injury a hand injury but never revealed how severe the injury actually was. He’s been spotted wearing a cast on his hand since. We now have an idea of the type of injury he’s dealing with.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Duvernay-Tardif suffered a broken bone in his hand. It’s an injury that is expected to keep him out of action for 4-6 weeks. The injury will keep him out of all three games for the Chiefs this preseason, which isn’t exactly the most encouraging news for the good doctor.
#Chiefs OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif recently broke a bone in his hand at practice and is out 4-6 weeks, sources say. The good doctor, who was the 2020 @SInow Sportsperson of the Year for his work on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, does have a chance to play Week 1.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 10, 2021
While Rapoport claims he won’t need surgery and that he’ll have a chance to play in Week 1, Duvernay-Tardif is listed as the No. 2 right guard on the team’s first unofficial depth chart behind rookie Trey Smith. The competition at the position had been going the way of Smith even before this injury. Now, it’s going to be very tough for Duvernay-Tardif to win that job.
The former Super Bowl LIV starter is not a starter in Kansas City anymore. He was out to prove that he could still play this preseason after opting out to work on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It’s hard to prove that you can still play when you’re sidelined with an injury. Should he return to action for Week 1, it’ll likely be in a depth capacity. It’s possible and even probable that he starts the season on injured reserve for the Chiefs.
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