Duvernay-Tardif’s pro day workout draws nine NFL and four CFL teams

“What was most impressive was probably just the way he moved around for a big guy,” said Lee Gissendaner, in his 13th season as a scout for the Green Bay Packers. “He showed the versatility that you like (to see) and the flexibility. I thought he showed pretty well today… He seems like a guy who likes to compete. He responded to what we asked him to do, followed directions. His work ethic was on display.”Among the other NFL teams in attendance were the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. Other NFL teams, including the Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns, have scheduled a future interview, a rigorous process that he has already gone through with at least a dozen NFL organizations.Taking in the workout from the Canadian Football League were scouts from the Calgary Stampeders, Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts and the Ottawa RedBlacks, who own the No.1 pick in the CFL draft, slated for May 13.

“He’s one of the top picks in this draft, for sure,” said Joey Abrams, the Alouettes’ assistant director of player personnel. “It’s difficult to find a kid like this, with his skill set and abilities. He’s a rare specimen. This is unprecedented. I’ve never seen this before. He met expectations. Everyone knew he was big and strong, and he showed that today.”

Duvernay-Tardif, a 6-foot-5 offensive tackle who officially weighed in at 298 pounds, 23 pounds lighter than his January weigh-in, captured the Metras trophy as the most outstanding lineman in CIS football last fall. He followed that by being one of two CIS players picked to play in the East-West Shrine Game, a showcase for graduating NCAA seniors.

He had been invited to participate in last weekend’s CFL combines camp in Toronto but opted out for a number of reasons. A fourth-year student in his third year of medical school after a year of pre-med, he wanted to limit his time away from his academic curriculum, while having the possibility of working out simultaneously before both NFL and CFL scouts, something which would not have been possible at the CFL combines.

“It doesn’t happen every day, sure,” said the 23-year-old native of St. Hilaire, Que., who was recently featured in the March 24 edition of Sports Illustrated, believed to be a first fora CIS football player. “And it’s not every day a Canadian gets the opportunity to do what I’m doing. I don’t know if this is historic. But I’m really happy it happened to me.”

He posted some impressive numbers at his pro day, including a stellar 40-yard dash, which resulted in various stopwatches fluctuating between 4.94 and 5.08 seconds, considered fast for a lineman of his stature.In the bench press, he managed 34 reps (six shy of his personal best) while lifting 225 pounds, although some scouts discounted three of those reps for lifting his hips.

His T-test went so well that he passed on an option to do it a second time. He also posted solid numbers in the shuttle run (4.59 seconds), the three-cone L-drill (7.30 seconds), vertical leap (31.5 inches) and standing broad jump, where he set a personal best (9’6″).

Had he been invited to the NFL combines camp last February and posted the same results, he would’ve ranked among the top five offensive linemen in virtually every category. Duvernay-Tardif is the top-ranked prospect for this year’s CFL draft and some analysts have projected him as a possible third or fourth-round draft pick in the NFL draft, May 8-10. Gil Brandt of NFL.com pegs him as a sixth or seventh-rounder.

“I’ve been training for so long for these tests,” said Duvernay-Tardif, who spent the past five months preparing for this professional showcase. “It was time to show what I could do. I knew what I was going to hit. I hit those numbers, and even better.”

Duvernay-Tardif, who has been granted five years to complete his final year of medical school, has also posted some stellar numbers in the classroom, earning Academic All-American status, in addition to making the Principal’s Student-athlete Honour Roll and meriting CIS Top 8 Academic All-Canadian honours from Governor-General David Johnston last fall.

Should he be drafted by an NFL team, he would become just the second McGill player to achieve that status, joining long-snapper Randy Chevrier who was selected by Jacksonville in the seventh round of the 2001 NFL Draft. Chevrier went on to suit up for the Cowboys, Bengals and Jets before embarking on a lengthy CFL career with Edmonton — where he was drafted fifth overall — and Calgary.

The only other McGill grad to make the NFL was long-snapper Jean-Philippe Darche, who was a third-round CFL draft pick by the Toronto Argonauts in 1999. Darche, whose brother Mathieu played in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, among other teams, spent one season as the Argos long-snapper, then made the jump to the NFL, where he signed as a free-agent and had a nine-year career with Seattle and Kansas City.  In 2006, he became only the second CIS grad to play in the Super Bowl.

(Source:  Earl Zukerman, McGill Redmen Sports Information|)

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