Ex-Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater unretires, signs with NFL team

The last time Teddy Bridgewater was a starter in the NFL he was playing for the Broncos, the 32-year-old unretired to rejoin the Lions

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Dec 26, 2024, 1:45 PM

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The last time Teddy Bridgewater was a regular starter in the NFL he was playing for the Denver Broncos, the 32-year-old unretired on Thursday to rejoin the Detroit Lions.

Bridgewater spent last season in the Motor City as a backup to Jared Goff and that’s the role he’ll retake alongside Hendon Hooker. Bridgewater left the NFL in the winter to take the head coaching job at Miami Northwestern Senior High School, his alma mater, where he led them to the Class 3A Florida High School Athletic Association state title earlier this month.

“My team knows that’s the plan. We wanted to win a state championship and then Coach goes back to the league, see what happens, and then come back February in the offseason, continue coaching high school football. We’ll see how it plays out,” Bridgewater told NFL Network’s “The Insiders” last week.

Bridgewater has bounced around the league a bunch. He was a first-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, but his success was nearly derailed by a torn ACL and a dislocated knee in 2016. He missed that season and then left the Vikings a year later. Bridgewater spent two seasons with the Saints and another in Carolina before coming to Denver for 2021. As a member of the orange and blue the team went 7-7 as he threw for 3,052 yards and 18 touchdowns. That led to backup jobs in Miami and then in Detroit.

ESPN reports that Bridgewater has already gotten coaching gig interest from NFL teams but that the quarterback wants to chase a championship as a player before going to the whistle full-time. During his time retired, Bridgewater turned around Miami Northwestern from a 4-6 season to a state title.

Bridgewater joins a 13-2 Lions squad that is competing with the Vikings and Eagles for the top seed in the NFC.