It seemed like Teddy Bridgewater couldn’t keep himself away from pro football, as he kept coming back time and again — most recently in March when he rejoined the Detroit Lions, with which he spent the 2024 campaign.
But finally, nearly five years after his last stint as a full-time starting quarterback ended with a second concussion in a three-month span, the 13-year veteran passer has elected to call it a career, as the Lions placed him on the reserve-retired list Sunday.
“His biggest worry was letting us down — that’s the type of guy he is,” Lions coach Dan Campbell told Detroit-area media.
Lions HC Dan Campbell announced that veteran QB Teddy Bridgewater is stepping away from the team. pic.twitter.com/Uvgf9cLc1D
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 9, 2026
The Lions quickly signed Josh Dobbs — a peripatetic passer who started against the Broncos on Sunday Night Football for the Minnesota Vikings in 2023 — to replace Bridgewater.
A 2014 first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings, Bridgewater started for the Broncos in 2021 after arriving via a draft-week trade from the Carolina Panthers, and won a “50/50” quarterback battle in training camp over Drew Lock. Denver went 7-5 in the 12 games started and finished, losing both games in which he left early due to concussions, the latter of which ended his season.
The Broncos moved on from him in the offseason, letting him depart for the Miami Dolphins, where he made two starts in relief of then-first-teamer Tua Tagovailoa. He suffered another concussion along the way that season.
Bridgewater then served as a backup in Detroit for 2023, and spent most of 2024 out of the NFL, coaching high-school football in Miami before resurfacing late in the season as a Detroit Lions backup.
He was set to coach high-school football again in 2025, but was suspended for allegedly providing impermissible benefits — which actually involved Bridgewater using the wealth he accumulated in his career to personally pay for meals, car-share rides and physical-recovery accommodations for his players.
The Florida Senate subsequently passed a bill — colloquially dubbed the “Teddy Bridgewater Act” — to allow coaches to provide such aid to their players earlier this year.
IT’S BRIDGEWATER’S THIRD CRACK AT RETIREMENT
The winner of the 2021 Broncos Darrent Williams Good Guy Award initially stepped away from the NFL to coach high-school football before being coaxed back by the Lions late in their 2024 run to the postseason. Detroit earned the No. 1 seed, but was one-and-done in the divisional round.
Bridgewater retired again, but then re-emerged as a backup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025.
The Louisville produced also played for current Broncos coach Sean Payton, spending two seasons with the New Orleans Saints (2018-19). The Saints went 5-1 in his six starts — including a perfect 5-0 mark in 2019 — which earned him another shot as a starter with Carolina in 2020.
Bridgewater’s 94.9 passer rating in 2021 was the best posted by a Broncos quarterback in the post-Peyton Manning era until Russell Wilson notched a 98.0 rating in 2023.
The Broncos’ 7-7 record in Bridgewater’s starts — including the two games he left due to concussions — was the best for any post-Manning Denver quarterback with at least four starts until Bo Nix came along.
