The NFL Does Not Want to Empower Players

Recently, a National Football League (NFL) player on the Kansas City Chiefs named Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, or should I say Dr. Duvernay-Tardif, earned his medical degree. When I heard this, I was actually in shock, no not septic or cardiogenic, but shock from amazement. It took me 4 years of medical school to earn my MD after college, and I am still in training as a fellow to accomplish my never-ending goals. Yet, this remarkable person was able to get his MD while playing a professional sport.  This is unheard of.   There have been many athletes who play professional sports as they work towards their post graduate degrees, but I feel that getting an MD has to be one of the hardest post graduate degrees to obtain while simultaneously playing in the NFL. I say this because usually in medical school it’s difficult to schedule 30 minutes of gym time. This man, who probably has everything, including financial stability, continued to pursue his dreams of becoming a physician. This act of service is entirely selfless and should be commended.

Though Dr. Duvernay-Tardif earned his MD recently he was denied by the NFL (aka Roger Goodell) to place “MD” behind his last name on his jersey. This is inexcusable, but not surprising that the league would deny two letters of honor and accomplishment to the back of a jersey. The NFL continues to struggle in the ever-growing world of public relations and social media, but this is a positive story for the league and they should be open to the idea with no issues. In a league that still has team names like the Washington Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs, you would think their next move should be to bring positivity around names and labels.

Of course, the NFL has also been struggling with the concept of player empowerment and this may be just another step in trying to suppress player’s voices, concerns, beliefs and now, accomplishments. After all, education/knowledge is power and we can all assume that the NFL does not want to give any more power to its players.

**Photo credit from SI.com