John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is beginning his coaching career.
Bridgewater has been named the head football coach at his alma mater Miami Northwestern High School, according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.
“It means a great deal. He’s a proud member of this community,” Miami Northwestern Senior High athletic director Andre Williams said, per Rittenberg. “He’s a product of the environment, he knows the school, he knows the tradition.”
Bridgewater, who spent the 2023 campaign with the Detroit Lions, revealed in December his intentions to retire from the NFL this offseason while speaking with Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press:
“I was young and I was trapped in this lifestyle thinking that I was a football player 24-7, and when I got hurt I realized that I’m only a football player for three hours on a Sunday afternoon. 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.”
The 31-year-old was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 2014 draft out of Louisville. He spent two seasons as the team’s starting quarterback before suffering a knee injury during training camp in 2016 and missing the entire year.
That knee injury proved to be devastating for Bridgewater’s career.
Bridgewater appeared in just one game for the Vikings in 2017 and went on to sign with the New York Jets in 2018 before being traded to the New Orleans Saints after the 2018 preseason.
Bridgewater started just six games for the Saints between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, filling in for an injured Dres Brees.
The Louisville product signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and started 15 games, but the team went 4-11 in that span. He then started 14 games for the Denver Broncos in 2021 and the team went 7-7 in those matchups.
Bridgewater had been a backup in each of the last two seasons, backing up Tua Tagovailoa with the Miami Dolphins in 2022 and Jared Goff with the Lions in 2023.
He finished his career having completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 15,120 yards and 75 touchdowns against 47 interceptions in 79 games (65 starts) across nine seasons, in addition to rushing for 844 yards and 11 scores.
