Former Vikings draft pick Teddy Bridgewater will reportedly retire in 2024
Following his devastating knee injury as a member of the Vikings in 2016, some didn't believe Teddy Bridgewater would ever play professional football again.
But here we are in the middle of the 2023 season, and Bridgewater is still active in the NFL as a backup quarterback for the Detroit Lions. However, this year will reportedly be his last in the league.
According to the Detroit Free Press's Dave Birkett, Bridgewater plans to retire from the NFL after the 2023 season and pursue a career as a high school football coach.
If this is truly the final year in the league for the former Minnesota first-round pick, it's fitting that he will be going out on his terms. Many counted him out after his knee injury in 2016, and instead of listening to the doubters, he fought his way back and proved a lot of people wrong when he returned to an NFL field in 2017.
Obviously, his career didn't turn out the way some had thought it would when the Vikings traded back into the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft to select him. But the fact that he has been able to continue making a living in the league for as long as he has after his 2016 injury is a major accomplishment in itself.