Patrick Mahomes ‘surprised’ Laurent Duvernay-Tardif becomes first NFL player to sit out 2020 season

NFL: Super Bowl LIV-San Francisco 49ers vs Kansas City Chiefs

Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif shocked the sports world when he announced he’d be the first NFL player to sit out the 2020 season, even with his team looking to defend its title.

The news came as a shock, given that the Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL, coming off a Super Bowl win, but at the same time, it’s fair, as offensive linemen may be among the most at-risk groups, given how close they are together, both in proximity on the field, and also hanging out off it.

And we weren’t the only ones surprised by the news, apparently.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes supports Duvernay-Tardif’s decision, but he was a bit taken aback by it, it seems.

“[I] respect his decision,” Mahomes told reporters on Saturday, via NFL.com. “He’s a guy that’s been on those front lines working with the people that are suffering from COVID day to day and putting in all that time and all that work. He understands it and his decision was he wanted to stay there. He wanted keep helping in that capacity and I know it was difficult for him, but you respect the decision for him to kinda put his thoughts aside and kinda do what he thought was best to help out his community and the world as he sees it.”

We’ll soon see how many other players follow suit.

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