Source – Teddy Bridgewater retires, expected to sign with Lions

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is retiring and is expected to sign with the Detroit Lions, a source confirms to ESPN.

Bridgewater had said last week that he wanted to return to the NFL after coaching Miami Northwestern Senior High School, his alma mater, 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 the coach goes back to the league, see what happens and then come back to February in the offseason, continue to coach high school football. We get see how it plays out,” he told NFL Network’s “The Insiders” last week.

Bridgewater, 32, spent last season as the Lions’ backup quarterback behind starter Jared Goff.

After his retirement, he was hired by Miami Northwestern in February with the task of turning around a program that had gone 4-6 the previous season. Miami Northwestern went 12-2 on the season and outscored its opponents 262-12 in five playoff games. It ended the season with a 10-game winning streak.

A first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, Bridgewater’s career was derailed by a torn ACL and dislocated knee suffered during training camp in 2016; he missed all of that season and most of 2017 before leaving the Vikings. He spent two seasons with the New Orleans Saints (2018-19), started 29 games over two seasons for the Carolina Panthers (2020) and Denver Broncos (2021) and served as Tua Tagovailoa’s backup with the Miami Dolphins in 2022 when he was limited by injuries again. He then signed with the Lions for last season and appeared in one game to pitch a win.

NFL Network first reported that Bridgewater was expected to sign with the Lions.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler contributed to this report.