Teddy Bridgewater to retire after the season, still impacting lives as 'neighborhood hero'

He's one of the last ones off the practice field every day.

He runs a mini version of the day's practice script, to get himself ready for the weekend's game and to help the young Detroit Lions teammates who stay out there with him — Hendon Hooker and Jameson Williams, among others — understand what it takes to succeed in the NFL.

And when Teddy Bridgewater finally gets to the locker room, there's almost always a card game waiting at the table a few steps from his locker.

Tonk is Bridgewater's deal of choice, and Bridgewater has a reputation as the best player in a running game that draws teammates from every corner of the room. Practice squad quarterback David Blough, linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and defensive tackle Benito Jones are regulars, and on a recent Thursday, practice squad receiver Tom Kennedy, tight end Brock Wright, and newly-signed defensive tackle Tyson Alualu peered in, watching and talking as cards shuffled by.

For Bridgewater, the game has little to do with taking his teammates' money. It's about getting to know their souls inside and out.

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"Y’all see it as us playing cards, but I’m learning about different guys," Bridgewater told the Free Press earlier this month. "It started out just me and Benito Jones playing cards, now we get a group of guys around the table. It’s fun. I get to learn about their families, their upbringing, what motivates them, things like that. So for me, every day is something new."

And in what he swears will be his last NFL season, Bridgewater, who told the Free Press he plans to retire whenever the Lions season comes to a close, said it's part of what has made his last hurrah a memorable one, even though he's barely seen the field.

"Everyone sees the wins and losses, and it’s the small victories, the daily victories that take place in this locker room," he said. "You talk about a team that is young, quick to run to their phones after practice, after games, and you see guys like mingling and just having conversations. Ping-pong, card table, cornhole. Guys sitting on the couch. Like, that’s what it’s about. That’s the league that I came into and I'm happy that I get to just see and be a part of this great locker room."

The Lions signed Bridgewater this summer to provide veteran insurance for Jared Goff in a deal that truly was years in the making.

When general manager Brad Holmes traded Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for Goff and three draft picks in January of 2021, one of the deals he passed up was acquiring Bridgewater and the No. 8 overall pick from the Carolina Panthers.

Lions coach Dan Campbell spent two seasons with Bridgewater with the New Orleans Saints, watched him keep the Saints' playoff hopes alive with five emergency starts — all of them victories — in 2019, and has long championed bringing him to Detroit.

Campbell and Bridgewater stayed in regular communication last offseason, with Bridgewater contemplating retirement after the birth of his second son, until one day in the summer Bridgewater decided, yes, he did want to play one more year — and he wanted to do it with friends and people he considers like family in Detroit.

"I was really like content with being done," Bridgewater said. "And it wasn’t really like much that went into it, it was just I felt healthy, I could walk away on my own terms and that was that. But when Dan, like we talked, and we talked, and we talked, and we talked, and it was like, 'Man, all right, Dan, I got you.'"

Campbell wasn't the only familiar face that drew Bridgewater to the Lions.

Bridgewater had longstanding relations with Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard and practice squad receiver Maurice Alexander before coming to Detroit.

When he visited the team in July, he felt the "energy" Alexander, his longtime offseason workout partner, told him would vibe with his personality. And as he contemplated his future, he heard echoes of Glenn appealing to him about the big-picture impact he could have.

"He was like, 'Man, I’m telling you, man, you’ll make a huge impact in Hendon and Jamo’s life just being here,'" Bridgewater recalled. "Dan, yeah, but I’m going to come here for those two guys as well. So I’m close to Hard Time (Alexander), but Hendon and Jamo, I tell them all the time you’re the reason I signed here."

Bridgewater has always been the altruistic sort.

Alexander said Bridgewater is "the neighborhood hero" back home in the hard-scrabble Liberty City area of northwest Miami where Bridgewater grew up.

Bridgewater helped Alexander, who grew up in nearby Florida City, break into the NFL by calling coaches he knew and urging them to give Alexander a look after Alexander missed two years of football because of the COVID-19 pandemic and was making a position change from quarterback to receiver in the USFL.

He had the football field dedicated to him at Bunche Park in Miami Gardens this summer, and he hosts random toy and school supply giveaways annually that draw little fanfare outside of his neighborhood.

"Teddy’s one of them guys, it can be July, he could have a U-Haul full of toys, bookbags, bikes and he’ll pass it out," Alexander said. "He's on a pedestal, he's on the higher of the high, 'cause he always keep his face clean, do right by people, always keep a smile on his face, give you the shirt off his back. That’s just who he is. Down to earth."

A first-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 after a star-studded career at Louisville, Bridgewater seemed to be on the fast track to stardom early in his NFL career.

He started 12 games as a rookie, led the Vikings to an 11-5 record and division title in his second year, then suffered a gruesome knee injury during training camp in 2016.

Bridgewater returned as a backup late in the 2017 season and has spent the past six years with six different NFL teams: The New York Jets, who traded him before he ever played in a game; the Saints, Panthers, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and Lions.

Reflecting on his journey now, Bridgewater said his injury brought both perspective and peace to his life.

"I was young and I was trapped in this lifestyle thinking that I was a football player 24-7, and when I got hurt I realized that I’m only a football player for three hours on a Sunday afternoon," Bridgewater said. "Outside of that, I’m Theodore Bridgewater, so it just put everything into perspective and it really helped me not even have to think about not being a starter (anymore). It’s like, 'Man, I still got purpose.' And my purpose is bigger than the game of football. Football is just a platform that I have."

Part of that purpose is to groom the next generation of what he hopes will be stars.

Bridgewater said he took a special interest in Hooker, the Lions' third-round pick who is in the process of returning from a college knee injury, because, "I was once Hendon.'

"A young rookie in this league. I was once injured, so I just figured that, man, I could give him everything that I’ve learned from the different quarterback rooms that I’ve been in and poured into him and he has a 15-year career," Bridgewater said.

With Williams, the Lions' uber-talented second-year receiver whose impact has been dulled so far by his own college knee injury and the four-game gambling suspension he served to start the year, Bridgewater said, "He just reminds me of someone from where I’m from."

"I’ve had boys who had the same talent as him, the same personality, the same skill set — everything that he possess, and they didn’t get the opportunity to make it," he said. "So I just constantly remind him like, 'Man, you’re here for a reason, you’re special. Let’s be a pro. Learn how to be a pro and I guarantee you you’ll play 15 years in this league because you got the one thing that everyone wants, you can run.' So, just, man, those two guys have really meant a lot to me, and just, Hard Time been running routes with me since like 2019, so just those three guys."

Alexander, Hooker and Williams all said they're appreciative of Bridgewater, too.

"I really can’t explain it, but he just did so much good for me just me knowing him the couple months I knew him," Williams said. "A lot of people from where we’re from or a lot of people from around the world don’t get a chance, but he just make sure the ones who do stay on the right track and don’t fall off."

Campbell brought up Bridgewater's name unprompted Thursday, ahead of Saturday's game against one of Bridgewater's old teams (the Broncos) and old head coaches (ex-Saints boss Sean Payton).

"Teddy’s been unbelievable for a lot of people here," Campbell said. "He’s a huge asset for us, aside from the obvious, which is if we need him, he’s a guy that can go in and win for us. But, man, he does so many things behind the scenes that I think a lot of people don’t even realize. He’s a valuable asset for our team.”

If things go according to plan, Bridgewater will have already played his last NFL snap.

He played the final series of a Week 5 win over the Carolina Panthers, handed the ball off once to Craig Reynolds for a 4-yard gain and took two kneel-down snaps.

Bridgewater said he plans to retire after the season so he can be a father to his two boys and continue to make an impact in his community back home that he said "is food for my soul."

He plans to coach high school football next season — the head coaching job at his alma matter, Miami Northwestern, is open — and he has no interest (for now) coaching in college or the NFL ("I don't like the hours"). Instead, he'll be a regular at his favorite breakfast spot, MLK (My Little Kitchen) in Liberty Square.

But there's a chance that Bridgewater's career could come full circle.

The Lions play the Vikings in two of their final three regular season games, including in Week 18 at Ford Field. Bridgewater said he's bound to get emotional before that during the national anthem, the "one place that reminds me that I’m special," and after the game when he goes to say a prayer at midfield.

If the Lions have a playoff spot and seeding all locked up by then, there's a chance Bridgewater could make one final start against his old team, if the Lions decide to rest Goff.

"Everything happens for a reason," Bridgewater said. "Injuries, highs, lows, the success, the failures. It all, it builds character, and that’s what it did for me. Like I never look like, 'Oh man, what if?' Nah. Whatever was meant for me, it played out the exact way it was meant. And I’m still with that mindset every day and I’m just really appreciative that I’m in Year 10, I tell everyone this is my last year, so I’m in my final year and I’m just enjoying it all, man."