A familiar name from Minnesota’s recent past looks like he’s headed for the finish line of his NFL playing days.
Dan Campbell told the media that Teddy Bridgewater has informed the Detroit Lions he is stepping away, and retirement is most likely next. Bridgewater signed with Detroit in the offseason after spending 2023 and 2024 with the team. He spent last year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
For Vikings fans, Bridgewater’s story still starts with the 2014 NFL Draft, when Minnesota took him in the first round to replace Christian Ponder. He went on to appear in 30 games for the Vikings, throwing for 6,150 yards with 28 touchdowns and 22 interceptions while going 17-11 as a starter. In 2015, he made the Pro Bowl.
His time in Minnesota is also tied to the injuries that altered his career. He suffered a major hit to the head in one game and then endured a devastating non-contact ACL injury in 2016 that cost him nearly two years of football.
Bridgewater stayed in the league as a backup, but he also found chances to start again with the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos in 2020 and 2021. That stretch came after he went 5-0 as the New Orleans Saints’ starter in 2019. Things were tougher with the Panthers and Broncos, where he went 11-18 as a starter over those two seasons.
When it’s all added up, Bridgewater’s career numbers land at a 33-32 record, 15,182 passing yards and 75 touchdowns against 47 interceptions.
The on-field résumé may not match the early expectations, but Bridgewater was widely appreciated everywhere he went. He received a standing ovation in his first game back from that ACL injury with the Vikings in 2017, a clear sign of how much respect he had earned.
If playing is ending, coaching may be next. Bridgewater was a head coach of a high school football team before returning to the NFL last year, and the expectation is that he’ll look for another head coaching job somewhere else.
He may not be a quarterback who dominates the national conversation, but in Minnesota, Bridgewater left enough of a mark to stay part of the story. Vikings fans know the wins, the setbacks and the teammate he was, and soon enough, they may see him back on a sideline instead of under center.
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Nuggets Salary Crunch Could Force A Painful Trade Deadline Decision
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Marc Stein has already floated several names who could come up in any effort to trim payroll, including Zeke Nnaji, Aaron Gordon and Cameron Johnson, but none of those paths looks clean. Denver has time to sort through the options, yet the challenge is obvious: finding enough relief without weakening the rotation, and doing it in a market where every move seems to come with a catch. [Read more 🡒]