On Sunday, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell informed the media that backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was going to “step away” from the team
, but stopped short of saying that the veteran quarterback was planning to retire.“Yeah, I mean, I think only he can truly answer that, but I feel like this is where it’s at for sure right now,” Campbell said. “This is where it needs to be and where he felt. And his biggest worry was letting us down—that’s the type of guy he is—and he’s not.”
On Monday, Bridgewater
took to social media to confirm he was indeed retiring, and released the following statement (emphasis is from the author):
“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. 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. I really did things my way Lol.”
Bridgewater was incredibly well-liked, especially amongst his teammates, and many of them—present and former—responded to his retirement post with well wishes and love. Here’s a small sampling:
- Jared Goff: “Legend!”
- Amon-Ra St. Brown: Raising hands emoji
- Alim McNeill: Fire emojis
- Tyleik Williams: Heart and prayer hands emojis
- Alex Anzalone: “My guy!!!!! Congrats Bro”
- Jackson Meeks: 100 emojis and handshake emoji
- Shelby Harris (Giants DT): “much love and respect my guy”
- Detroit Lions official: Thank you, Teddy”
- New Orleans Saints official: “Teddy 2 Gloves”
- Minnesota Vikings official: Purple heart emojis
- NFL official: “Legendary” with two glove emojis
