It’s already the first week in April and there still is a great deal of uncertainty among many veteran free agents over their NFL plans for 2024.
However, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who played for seven teams during his ten-year NFL career, already knows what he will be doing this fall. He recently was named the new head football coach at his alma mater Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida.
The former 2014 first-round draft choice had announced last December that he was going to retire after his 2023 campaign.
Bridgewater spent his final season with the Lions as backup quarterback to Jared Goff. The team made an impressive postseason run, and went all the way to the NFC Championship game before being eliminated by the 49ers in late January. Two weeks later, Bridgewater was at his new job meeting with his returning high school players and getting to know other personnel at the school.
Miami Northwestern’s athletic director Andre Williams believes that Bridgewater is the right person to lead the football program for the foreseeable future.
“Teddy is a proud member of the community,” Williams says. “As a former player, he knows the environment, the school, the tradition, and he knows about all those coaches who came before him. More importantly, he understands it’s not just about wins and losses for me, the school or the community.”
Bridgewater is no stranger to the Miami Northwestern fans in south Florida. He registered 70 touchdowns during his playing days at the school from 2007-10. He then enrolled at the University of Louisville where he excelled and was named the Sugar Bowl MVP during his junior year. His NFL career was hampered by a serious knee injury during his third season with the Vikings who drafted him. However, despite the injury, he continued his career and started 65 NFL games and threw for 15,000 yards and 75 touchdowns before announcing his retirement.
“When I got hurt,” the 31-year old Bridgewater recalls, “I realized I’m only a football player for three hours on a Sunday afternoon. Outside of that, I’m Theodore Bridgewater so it put everything into perspective. It really helped me not even have to think about not being a starter anymore. It’s like, ‘I still got purpose and my purpose is bigger than the game of football’. Football is just a platform that I have.”
We at NFL Alumni wish rookie head coach Teddy Bridgewater much success at his alma mater. He was a positive influence in every locker room he worked in during his college and NFL career. We are certain he will bring a special brand of leadership and commitment to his new role with his young players.
