Getty Former Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater
One of the most beloved Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks of all time, Teddy Bridgewater is hanging up his cleats.
Bridgewater, currently a backup for the Detroit Lions, announced he would retire after the 2023 season in an exclusive interview with the Detroit Free Press that was published on Saturday, December 16.
Selected 32nd overall in the 2014 draft, Teddy Bridgewater helped navigate the Vikings out of a dark era where the franchise’s future in Minnesota was in question. He started 12 games as a rookie, led the Vikings to a 12-5 record and NFC North division title in his second season before a gruesome leg injury put his career in jeopardy during the 2016 preseason.
“When I got hurt I realized that I’m only a football player for three hours on a Sunday afternoon,” Bridgewater said, reflecting on his NFL journey that he extended seven more years after nearly losing his leg.
“Outside of that, I’m Theodore Bridgewater, so it just put everything into perspective and it really helped me not even have to think about not being a starter (anymore). It’s like, ‘Man, I still got purpose.’ And my purpose is bigger than the game of football. Football is just a platform that I have,” Bridgewater added.
Bridgewater, 31, told the Detroit Free Press he plans to retire after the season “so he can be a father to his two boys and continue to make an impact in his community back home that he said ‘is food for my soul.’ ”
He added that he plans to coach high school football next season.
Teddy Bridgewater Returns to Vikings in Week 16
GettyTeddy Bridgewater before a game with the Detroit Lions in 2023.
Bridgewater’s announcement of his retirement comes with four games left in the regular season. Two of those games will be against the Vikings.
He’ll return to U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 16 where he’ll surely receive rousing support from his home of four years. Bridgewater will also face the Vikings in what will be his final regular season game at Ford Field in Week 18.
Bridgewater told the Detroit Free Press that he’s bound to get emotional before the national anthem, the “one place that reminds me that I’m special,” and after the game when he goes to say a prayer at midfield.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Bridgewater said. “Injuries, highs, lows, the success, the failures. It all, it builds character, and that’s what it did for me. Like I never look like, ‘Oh man, what if?’ Nah. Whatever was meant for me, it played out the exact way it was meant.
“I’m still with that mindset every day and I’m just really appreciative that I’m in Year 10, I tell everyone this is my last year, so I’m in my final year and I’m just enjoying it all, man.”
Teddy Bridgewater Reveals He Considered Earlier Retirement
GettyFormer Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater
Bridgewater has become the ultimate journeyman quarterback since the Vikings made the difficult decision to move on from him in 2018.
He was bounced from the New York Jets (2018) to winning five straight games as a starter for the New Orleans Saints (2018 to 2019), won himself a starting job with the Carolina Panthers (2020) and the Denver Broncos (2021) before becoming a veteran backup and leader for the Miami Dolphins (2022) and Lions (2023).
After last season, Bridgewater considered retirement after the birth of his second son. He stayed in contact with Dan Campbell, who was an assistant coach in New Orleans while Bridgewater was there.
Campbell’s persistence paid off for Detroit, as Bridgwater decided to make one final run before hanging it up for good.
“I was really like content with being done,” Bridgewater said. “And it wasn’t really like much that went into it, it was just I felt healthy, I could walk away on my own terms and that was that. But when Dan, like we talked, and we talked, and we talked, and we talked, and it was like, ‘Man, all right, Dan, I got you.'”