Teddy Bridgewater is back in retirement, and the Detroit Lions didn't waste any time finding his replacement.
The Lions agreed to a one-year contract with veteran quarterback Josh Dobbs on Sunday, Aug. 9, Dobbs' agent posted on social media.
Dobbs has a long history with the Lions and new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. He spent a month on the Lions' practice squad late in the 2022 season but did not appear in any games, and has played under Petzing in stints with the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals.
A fourth-round pick out of Tennessee in 2017, Dobbs is 3-12 in his career as a starter. He made eight of his starts in Petzing's first year as Cardinals offensive coordinator in 2023, when Arizona acquired him in a training camp trade with
the Cleveland Browns while starter Kyler Murray was recovering from knee surgery.
Dobbs, 31, completed 62.8% of his passes with eight touchdowns and five interceptions for the Cardinals.
He appeared in four games last season as a backup with the New England Patriots.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said the team was looking for a veteran backup to replace Bridgewater, who retired abruptly this week and left the team with two quarterbacks – starter Jared Goff and undrafted rookie Luke Altmyer – on its roster. Bridgewater sat out practices Thursday and Friday, and the Lions placed him on the reserve/retired list Sunday.
"We’re going to add somebody," Campbell said before practice. "We like Luke. Luke is growing, Luke is getting better, he just needs reps. I mean, he needs a million reps. But the reps that he has gotten to this point, he has improved and so we like him. But we are going to add somebody, and we’d like to add a veteran quarterback."
The Lions have typically employed minimum-contract veterans as their backups to Goff during Campbell's six seasons as coach. In 2022, Dobbs joined a quarterback room that also included Nate Sudfield.
Bridgewater was the Lions' primary backup in 2023, even after the team drafted Hendon Hooker in the third round, and Bridgewater rejoined the team for the playoffs in 2024 after Hooker spent most of the year as Goff's top backup. Last year, Kyle Allen appeared in three games as a backup.
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions sign Josh Dobbs as backup QB after Teddy Bridgewater retires
