National Football League

Teddy Bridgewater teases possible NFL return after winning state title

Updated Dec. 17, 2024 10:57 p.m. ET

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Teddy Bridgewater retired last offseason after a decade-long career in the NFL and soon after became the football coach at his high school alma mater. This past weekend, Bridgewater and Miami Northwestern High won the Florida Class 3A state title.

Now that his first season as a high school coach is complete, the 32-year-old Bridgewater could be headed back to the NFL.

"Coach Teddy, hopefully, we'll see how these next week and a half, two weeks play out, might be signing with a team or something," Bridgewater told NFL Network on Tuesday. "And then returning back to coach high school football in February. So, we'll see."

"That's the plan," the former quarterback said when asked if he was serious about a potential comeback. "My team know that's the plan. We wanted to win a state championship and then Coach goes back to the league, see what happens, and then come back February in the offseason, continue coaching high school football. So we'll see how it plays out."

If Bridgewater returns to the NFL, it'd make sense for him to join a playoff team with the hopes of winning a Super Bowl title. Two of his former teams, the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, have already secured a spot in the postseason. 

Bridgewater spent the 2023 season as a backup to Jared Goff in Detroit. He appeared briefly in one game and retired after the Lions fell to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game. 

In 2014, the Vikings drafted Bridgewater with the final pick in the first round. He took over as the starter four weeks into his rookie season and guided Minnesota to an NFC North title in his second year. After a Pro Bowl season in 2015, Bridgewater suffered a devastating knee injury in August 2016 that nearly ended his career. 

He eventually returned to the field in 2017 as a backup in Minnesota. After that, he joined the New Orleans Saints for two seasons and started six games in relief of Drew Brees. He became a journeyman from that point, taking one-year stints with the Panthers, Broncos, Dolphins and Lions and starting 31 games in that span.

In his career, Bridgewater played in just one postseason game. He started for the Vikings in the wild-card round against the Seahawks during the 2015 season. On a frigid January day, Minnesota lost when kicker Blair Walsh missed a potential game-winning 27-yard field-goal attempt.

Bridgewater appeared in 79 games in the NFL, throwing for 15,120 yards, 75 touchdowns and 47 interceptions.

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