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Teddy Bridgewater made it official on Monday. One day after Lions head coach Dan Campbell revealed the quarterback was stepping away from the team, Bridgewater confirmed his retirement on Instagram.
"This time it's official," he wrote.
According to Yahoo Sports, Bridgewater, 33, pointed to the same knee that almost ended his career a decade ago. In 2016, he suffered what he called "one of the most gruesome knee injuries the game itself, its players and some doctors had ever seen." That injury prompted predictions from experts that he would never play again. He went on to play ten more seasons.
But the body has limits. Bridgewater wrote that the knee "can no longer deal with something so simple as standing around on the turf field" and that it no longer recovers the way it once did. He said he would rather retire than risk being unable to be present for his children as they grow up.
"The game of football was beyond great to me and owes me nothing at all. I really did things my way," Bridgewater wrote in his post.
Bridgewater played 83 regular-season games and started 65 across his career, throwing for 15,182 yards and 75 touchdowns. He stood 6-foot-2 and weighed 217 pounds. His final two NFL seasons, 2023 and 2024, were spent in Detroit as a backup to Jared Goff. He appeared in one game during that stretch.
The Lions moved quickly after the announcement. The team signed veteran quarterback Joshua Dobbs as a replacement.
