An NFL Superstar Quit Football To Make A Move That's Changing The World Of Sports

But if you'd asked the young Myron Rolle where he saw himself in 20 years' time, his only response would've been "on the gridiron." This wasn't just a sport or a hobby for Myron: football was a way of life. “I obviously felt adrenaline rushes playing football, and I felt big when I made a big play and the crowd is going wild,” he told the Washington Post in 2017. 

In fact, he was practically born with a love for the game. His older brother Mordecai introduced him to the sport when he was just a few years old. Football came naturally to Myron, but the Texas-born Bahamian American wasn't just a one-trick pony. He could sing. He could act. He could play the saxophone. And, most importantly of all, his intellect was off the charts.

He was so bright that he got a scholarship to The Hun School of Princeton. And despite the challenges of navigating social classes, he got a 4.0 GPA while also playing in the school band and serving as the sports editor of his school newspaper. Still, the football field was where Myron shone brightest — and, boy, did he shine.

Myron actually finished his Hun education a semester early — but not before completing 112 tackles — 14 for loss — as a defensive back on the football field. He earned All-American honors and the prestigious Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Trophy, too. But the recognition didn't stop there.

In 2006 ESPN named Myron the number-one high school prospect in the country, and Rivals.com named him the best player from New Jersey in the year's recruiting class. Upon graduation, scholarship offers began pouring in left and right — but where would be the best fit for the young star? Surprisingly, Myron looked for more than just a college with a good football program.

"I wanted the school to accept all my AP credits," Myron told SB Nation in 2014. "Also, do they have a medical school on campus?" He ultimately chose to attend Florida State University. Myron joined the Seminoles as a safety, too, and earned AP 3rd-team All-American honors as a sophomore. But he wanted to prove that he was more than just an athlete — and in 2008, he did just that.

Having carried his impeccable grades to college, Myron was selected to interview in Birmingham, Alabama, as a finalist for one of 32 Rhodes Scholarships. There was just one problem: the interview was scheduled on the same day FSU was slated to play a game in College Park, Maryland! What would he choose to do?

For Myron, however, a few hundred miles might as well have been a few feet. Not only did the 22-year-old help FSU to a dominant victory over Maryland, but he also managed to make it to Birmingham. And Myron won the scholarship! It was a turning point in his career — and one that would have a lasting impact.

As just the fourth FSU student to be named a Rhodes Scholar, Myron decided to forgo the 2009 NFL Draft to complete his master's at Oxford University. But after earning a master's degree in medical anthropology, it was time to lace his cleats up once again. The question was, would the NFL still accept him after he'd chosen academics over football?

After a respectable combine outing, Myron was selected in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. Finally, Myron's dream of playing professional football had finally come true — but it proved to be nothing like he thought it would. For one thing, he felt the coaches treated him differently from the other players.

And Myron couldn't shake his medical background. One tragic incident in 2010 changed the course of his life. An aunt named Annie Smith, who lived in the Bahamas, was hit by a car. She suffered a traumatic brain injury — and then hit another systemic obstacle. “My auntie did not see a neurosurgeon for seven hours,” Myron told Men's Health in 2022.

“No MRI, no CT scans, no diagnostic work, and she died without any medical care,” Myron continued. “That moment encouraged and motivated me to want to do something.” This incident likely played on Myron's mind through his rookie year. And even though Myron gave it 100 percent, his time with the Titans came to an end in 2011.

“I did everything I could. It didn’t work out [as I wanted it to],” he told Men's Health. “The NFL is known for Not For Long.” But Myron eventually found an upside. He believes his brief stint in the NFL “was the Lord saying, ‘This is not for you right now, and I’m protecting you from hurting your hand or getting a concussion and not being able to be a neurosurgeon.’”

After retiring from the NFL in 2013, Myron enrolled at FSU's College of Medicine, intending to put his degrees and knowledge of football injuries to good use. He studied hard and put his footballing past behind him. "I think my patients wouldn't want me reminiscing about my time playing football, so I gotta focus on what I'm doing," he told SB Nation. "Medical school takes your mind off it quick."

In 2017 Myron graduated from medical school. He hoped to bridge the worlds of football and medicine, finding effective ways to make the sport safer for players. "The fundamentals have to be emphasized: tackling the correct way. Having the right equipment. Making sure that you don't have very violent practices or contact practices," Myron explained to CNN.

"I will tell you in person, 'Yes, play, but be careful; be safe, and understand some of these things that need to go into it for you to enjoy it,'" he said. "Football has done so much for me, given me friends, family, given me life lessons that now I can use in the operating room or just as a leader. I would hate to see it go, and I would love to see it around."

In June 2017, Myron began a multi-year residency at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. When he spoke to The New York Times in October 2022, he was a senior neurosurgery resident and a global neurosurgery fellow. And he was already looking to the future. "I have to do another year of pediatric neurosurgical fellowship," he began.

He continued, "My long-term goal is to practice neurosurgery in America for the majority of the year and then spend a portion of the year back home in the Caribbean developing neurosurgical services in the Bahamas and in all the member states of CARICOM, an organization of Caribbean countries." And he wanted others to learn from his experiences, too.

"I don’t think success looks like any particular person," he said. "I do believe that every individual has something brilliant in them and has a responsibility and a purpose that they were placed here on this earth for such a time as this time." That's no doubt something Super Bowl-winning lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif can attest to as well. After all, his life has run a similar path to Myron's.

After all, the Kansas City Chiefs was surely going to miss Laurent Duvernay-Tardif out on the field if he took any time off. Fresh off their championship, the Chiefs were eager to keep their Super Bowl squad together for another playoff run — but Laurent had other plans.

For Laurent, adding another Super Bowl ring to his collection wasn't exactly his top priority. Sure, getting paid millions of dollars to play guard for the defending champs was undoubtedly a pretty sweet gig, but ever since he was a child, Laurent had another calling.

Medicine. From a young age, Laurent dreamed of becoming a doctor, with football being just a hobby for the Montreal, Quebec, native. Yet it wasn't until his time at McGill University that his hobby began looking like a career path in and of itself.

After switching from defensive line to guard, Laurent quickly became one of the most dominant players in the country, making short work of every pass rusher in his path. Still, medical school remained the priority for the young Quebecer, leading him to have a pretty unusual college experience.

While Laurent was sometimes allowed to miss practices for his residency, he often found himself juggling football and med school with hardly any breaks in between. There were even times he'd get off his shift at the hospital and actually sleep on the locker room floor in anticipation of the next morning's practice.

Yet the rigors of Laurent's day-to-day seemed to pay off, as word of the talented Canadian lineman soon made its way south just as the 2014 NFL pre-draft process was heating up. Laurent's chances of making the NFL were high, but it wasn't long before questions surrounding his commitment to the game began to surface.

"People were debating whether I was going to commit 100 percent to football when I had that good of a plan B," he revealed. "The coach from another team was questioning me, 'How do we know if you have a bad year, you’re not just going to [quit football and] go back to medical school?' That’s a legitimate question."

It wasn't until Laurent sat down with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid that he finally found someone willing to hear him out. Reid, too, was skeptical of the 23-year-old's priorities at first, but after just one meeting with Laurent, he was sold.

"The Chiefs saw that I was playing football because I loved the game," he explained. "Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. For them, knowing I was able to manage both at the same time in college was a positive thing."

And so, Laurent became a Chief, falling to the team as a steal in the sixth round. He immediately put forth a plan to commit himself 100 percent to the team during the season, earning him the respect and trust of the coaching staff. His teammates, however, were a different story.

Chiefs players young and old were understandably skeptical of the team's newest addition, unsure of whether or not a soon-to-be doctor could tough it out in the trenches at one of the sport's most physical positions. But, like always, Laurent opted to prove them wrong.

"The way I play, I go [all-]out all the time," said Laurent. "When guys saw me on the field getting after it until the end of the whistle, they’re like, 'Okay, we’ve got a lot of respect for that guy.' When you get on the field and show toughness, your teammates feed off that and respect that, I think."

It wasn't long before Laurent snagged the starting right guard spot, and over the next three seasons he anchored an offensive line that became a regular fixture of the NFL playoffs. But while 2018 marked the beginning of the "Patrick Mahomes Era" for the Chiefs, it also proved to be an even bigger year for Laurent.

That's because, after years of hard work and sacrifice, the NFL star became a doctor. With both M.D. and C.M. certifications, Laurent was now poised for a second career in saving lives once his playing days were through — or, so he believed.

When the global COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, personnel from all reaches of medicine were called upon to join the fight against the deadly virus. Among them was Laurent, who was shocked by what he saw on the front lines.

In addition to being horrified by mounting death rates, Laurent found the hospitals he worked at woefully understaffed. With hospitalizations rising and the system strained beyond its breaking point, the NFL star resolved to make a life-changing choice.

"This is one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make in my life, but I must follow my convictions and do what I believe is right for me personally," Laurent shared in an Instagram post. "This is why I have decided to take the Opt Out Option negotiated by the League and the NFLPA and officially opt out of the 2020 NFL season."

"Being on the frontline during this offseason has given me a different perspective on this pandemic and the stress it puts on individuals and our healthcare system," he continued. "I cannot allow myself to potentially transmit the virus in our communities simply to play the sport that I love."

Many were disappointed to learn that Laurent's football career was on hold, but he had the full support of his coaches and teammates as he joined the battle against COVID-19. He also won the Lou Marsh Award and the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year. He then came back to the NFL in 2021 — now with the New York Jets.