NFL QB makes second retirement ‘official’ after ‘one of most gruesome injuries doctors had ever seen’

Teddy Bridgewater has announced his retirement for the second time and insisted ‘this time it’s official’ as he reflected on his remarkable comeback from a gruesome knee injury.

Bridgewater, a first-round draft pick out of Louisville in 2014, was named a Pro Bowler after his sophomore season with the Minnesota Vikings and was considered one of the NFL’s top young quarterbacks.

But he suffered a devastating, non-contact knee injury in training camp ahead of the 2016 season. It almost cost him his leg as well as his NFL career, being described by doctors in the aftermath as ‘like a war wound’.

Yet he returned to play another decade in the NFL, starting games for the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins in the process.

He initially retired to become a high school football coach in December 2023, leaving the Detroit Lions, before returning with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year then rejoining the Lions this offseason in a one-year, $1.8million contract to be Jared Goff’s backup. 

However, he stepped away from the team and retired again, insisting this time it is for good. And he could not help but reflect on his injury hell in a poignant post on social media. 

Bridgewater was one of the NFL’s top young quarterbacks before his horrific injury

‘This time it’s official,’ he began. 

‘It’s so crazy 10 years ago around this time, I suffered one of the most gruesome knee injuries the game itself, it’s players and some doctors had ever seen. Everything football related since 2016 had been fueled by the ‘experts’ predicting that I would never play football again,’ he wrote in his post Monday. ‘We really showed them by playing 10 more seasons!

‘However, 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. It’s finally run its course and when the body speaks to me, I have to listen so that I can be in one piece and available for my children as they grow up. The game of football was beyond great to me and owes me nothing at all.’

Dan Cooper, the doctor who performed surgery on Bridgewater, later told ESPN after his comeback: ‘It was just a horribly grotesque injury.

‘It’s mangled. You make the skin incision, and there’s nothing there. It’s almost like a war wound. Everything is blown.

‘This surgery was an absolute gut test, a test of what you’re made of, and I’ve seen it break people down.

‘I never saw it break Teddy down. … Most people have no idea the volume of the workload this kid had to put in. He had a toothpick of a leg he had to rebuild.’

After news of his retirement, Bridgewater was praised by Lions head coach Dan Campbell.

Bridgewater returned to the Detroit Lions to be Jared Goff’s backup

Bridgewater started 65 games in 12 seasons in the NFL

‘I’ve known Teddy a long time, and the human being is unbelievable,’ Campbell said. ‘Certainly, the player, everything that he’s about. The type of teammate he is, the way he prepares … always played the game up here and had a huge heart. He’s going to be missed.’

Bridgewater’s time as a high school coach caused controversy during his last retirement. He took charge of his prep alma mater, Miami Northwestern Senior High School and won a Class 3A state championship but was suspended for allegedly providing impermissible benefits for players.

He claimed he paid for Uber rides, meals and recovery services, and after public backlash over his suspension, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the ‘Teddy Bridgewater Act’ to allow high school coaches to use their own money to help with such expenses.