Report: Detroit Lions signing Teddy Bridgewater after visit

The Detroit Lions have added a new face to their quarterback room this week, as NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that Detroit will be signing former Miami Dolphins quarterback Teddy Bridgewater following a recent visit with the team.

Detroit gets cold, but thankfully Bridgewater will have his two gloves handy as he’ll be entering his 10th season in the NFL after spending last season on the Miami Dolphins serving as a backup quarterback.

Bridgewater’s number was called upon on five occasions last season for Miami, and he also made two starts for the team, ending the season with 683 yards, four touchdowns, and four interceptions for the Dolphins.

Prior to his one-year stint with Miami, he also made one-year stops with the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers. Bridgewater started 14 games for the Broncos in 2021, throwing for 3,052 yards and a career-high 18 touchdown passes. And in the previous season with the Panthers, he started 15 games for Carolina completing a career-high 69.1% of his passes for another career-high 3,733 yards in the air, adding 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions to his stat line.

Bridgewater would also spend two seasons with the New Orleans Saints and five months on the New York Jets, but his career began in Minnesota when the Vikings selected him with the No. 32 overall pick in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Louisville.

He was a standout for the Cardinals during his collegiate career, throwing for 9,817 yards and 72 after taking over as the team’s starter in the fourth game of his true freshman season, and never looked back.

He struggled in his first NFL season, but in year two helped lead the Vikings to an 11-5 regular season record and a playoff berth behind his 3,231 yards in the air and 14 touchdown passes. Bridgewater made the Pro Bowl that season, but unfortunately suffered from a torn ACL and suffered other structural damage during a team practice in August of 2016.

He’d miss the entire 2016 season and only make one game appearance for the Vikings for the remainder of his career before being traded to New Orleans.

Bridgewater joins a quarterback room with Jared Goff, Nate Sudfeld, and rookie Hendon Hooker. He’ll likely be the team’s second-string quarterback behind Goff, but with Hooker coming off of a knee injury of his own during his final collegiate season, Bridgewater could serve as a good veteran presence who’s been in similar shoes and battled through his fair share of adversity within his own NFL journey.