Three days after coaching his high school football team to a state championship, former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater told NFL Network on Tuesday that he wants to return to the league.
“We’ll see how these next week and a half, two weeks play out. Might be signing with a team or something and then returning back to coach high school football in February,” Bridgewater told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport on “The Insiders.” “We’ll see.”
When Pelissero asked Bridgewater to clarify if he was returning to the NFL, Bridgewater said, “That’s the plan, man.”
“My team knows that’s the plan,” Bridgewater said. “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. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Bridgewater didn’t share further details on what teams might be interested. When asked for more information, he held up the state championship medal hanging around his neck and said, “Right now, I’m enjoying this state championship, man. We’ll see how it all plays out.”
The 32-year-old retired after the 2023 season following a decade in the league that saw him play for six teams, capped by one season as a backup with the Detroit Lions. The No. 32 pick in the 2014 draft, Bridgewater began his career with the Minnesota Vikings before stints with the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and Lions.
He started 65 of the 79 games he appeared in, throwing for 15,120 yards and 75 touchdowns against 47 interceptions and recording a 66.4 percent completion percentage.
Bridgewater’s alma mater, Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida, hired him as the football program’s coach in February. He guided the team to a Class 3A Florida High School Athletic Association state championship on Saturday in his first season on the job.
Required reading
- Teddy Bridgewater to retire after 2023 season: Looking back on his career triumphs
(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
