Teddy Bridgewater has been a bit of a journeyman throughout his 11-year career in the NFL. It sounds like he's set to play his 12th season after signing a deal that sends him back to the Detroit Lions.
After initially playing for the Lions for two seasons (2023, 2024), the 33-year-old quarterback is heading back to Detroit, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. The financials of the deal are not currently known.
“He's back: Teddy Bridgewater is headed back to the Lions, per The Insiders.”
The former first-round pick of the 2014 NFL Draft played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, serving as a backup behind Baker Mayfield. He appears in four games, throwing for 62 yards while completing 53.3% of his pass attempts. Bridgewater will now back up Jared Goff in Detroit once again.
Teddy Bridgewater has played for seven different teams throughout his NFL career. He's started 65 games out of his 83 appearances. Bridgewater brings plenty of experience to the table while also being familiar with Lions head coach Dan Campbell. Over the course of his career, Bridgewater has accumulated 15,182 passing yards and 75 touchdowns while owning a career 66.3% completion percentage.
Bridgewater originally decided to leave his playing days behind him after the 2023-24 campaign, after accepting the head coaching job at his alma mater, Miami Northwestern High School. But after leading the team to a Class 3A state championship in December 2024, he was hit with a suspension for providing transportation and meals to his players. That led him to unretire and sign with the Buccaneers last offseason.
Since then, the state of Florida passed the Teddy Bridgewater Act. It's a bill that allows sports coaches for K-12 to spend up to $15,000 of their own money annually to support student athletes with transportation and meals.
