Teddy Bridgewater Confirms NFL Retirement Ahead of Lions' Season in Photo, 'This Time It's Official'

Teddy Bridgewater is "officially" retiring from the NFL.

The quarterback took to Instagram on Monday and wrote, "this time it's official. ... This wheel of mine can no longer deal with something so simple as standing around on the turf field. This thing just doesn't recover the same way it did years ago so I rather officially hang it up."

Bridgewater walking away is anything but surprising, as Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell told reporters Sunday the quarterback was taking time away from the team:

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported the quarterback was placed on the reserve/retired list, while NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported the Lions were signing Josh Dobbs to a one-year, $1.4 million deal to provide quarterback depth.

While Detroit also has Luke Altmyer in the quarterback room, the addition of Dobbs was a further hint at what was to come with Bridgewater.

That Bridgewater said "this time it's official" is notable since he also retired after the 2023 NFL season and became a head coach at his alma mater Miami Northwestern high school. He led the team to a Florida state title in 2024, although he eventually came out of retirement in December that year and joined the Lions.

He even appeared in Detroit's NFC Divisional Round loss to the Washington Commanders.

Bridgewater then backed up Baker Mayfield on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season before returning to Detroit this offseason to presumably back up Jared Goff. However, that will no longer be the case following his retirement.

The Louisville product entered the league as the No. 32 overall pick of the 2014 NFL draft and was a Pro Bowler in his second season with the Minnesota Vikings. He led Minnesota to an 11-5 record and the playoffs that year while completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 3,231 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions to go with 192 yards and three scores on the ground.

Yet a significant knee injury before the 2016 campaign undercut the momentum he built in 2015, and he ended up bouncing around with stops on the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins before joining the Lions and Buccaneers.

While he was largely a backup for the rest of his career after the injury, Bridgewater did start a combined 29 games in 2020 and 2021 for the Panthers and Broncos.

He threw for better than 3,000 yards in each of those two seasons.

The 33-year-old is now hanging up the cleats after a career that featured plenty of ups and downs, and the Lions are going a different direction in the quarterback room ahead of their Sept. 13 opener against the Saints.