Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater officially announced his retirement on Monday after a 12-year career in the NFL.
Bridgewater quickly went to the moment that threatened his career a decade ago, when he suffered a catastrophic knee injury in 2016 during training camp with the Minnesota Vikings.
He looked set for a strong third season, but instead he missed nearly two seasons with the massive recovery from an ACL tear, torn ligaments, and a dislocated knee. Bridgewater went on to play for six different teams from 2018 to 2025, and he retired as a member of the Detroit Lions.
“It’s so crazy 10 years ago around this time, I suffered one of the most gruesome knee injuries the game itself, its players and some doctors had ever seen,” Bridgewater wrote. “Everything football related since 2016 had been fueled by the ‘experts’ predicting that I would never play football again. We really showed them by playing 10 more seasons!”
Bridgewater took the field one last time with the Vikings late in the 2017 season when he played snaps in Week 15 against the Cincinnati Bengals. It led to a standing ovation from the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd when he came into the game for a couple of passes in relief of former Vikings quarterback Case Keenum.
Bridgewater joined the New York Jets in 2018 with hopes of restarting his career, but he never actually played in a regular-season game for the Jets, who traded him to the New Orleans Saints. As Drew Brees’s backup, Bridgewater stepped up in that role, which led to opportunities with the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos as a starter.
Bridgewater then found work with the Miami Dolphins, Lions, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a backup. He still showed flashes of his talent last year with 8-15 passing for 62 yards in four game appearances for the Buccaneers.
“However, this wheel of mine can no longer deal with something so simple as standing around on the turf field,” Bridgewater wrote. “This thing just doesn’t recover the same way it did years ago, so I rather officially hang it up.”
“It’s finally run its course and when the body speaks to me, I have to listen so that I can be in one piece and available for my children as they grow up. The game of football was beyond great to me and owes me nothing at all. I really did things my way,” Bridgewater said.
A Miami native, Bridgewater became a prep star at Miami Northwestern and then a collegiate star at the University of Louisville. Minnesota selected him in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft with the No. 32 pick, and he won Rookie of the Year. The next year, he made the Pro Bowl.
Bridgewater completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 15,182 yards and 75 touchdowns versus 47 interceptions in his 83-game career. He had only one full playoff game as a Viking, a 2015 loss to the Seattle Seahawks that ended on a missed field goal.
Bridgewater retired from the NFL in 2023 to coach at his high school alma mater, and his team won the state title in 2024. He returned to the Lions late in 2024 after his coaching run.
His coaching plans took a turn when he was suspended for providing off-field support to players, but that suspension was overturned. The Florida State Senate passed a law named for Bridgewater to allow football head coaches to help their players.
“I’ve known Teddy a long time, and the human being is unbelievable,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters on Sunday when Bridgewater’s leaving the team was first announced. “Certainly, the player, everything that he’s about. The type of teammate he is, the way he prepares ... always played the game up here and had a huge heart. He’s going to be missed.”
