Teddy Bridgewater is an American football quarterback and currently plies his trade in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. He started his career in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings when he was drafted by the Vikings in the 1st round of the 2014 NFL Draft as the 32nd overall pick. After changing teams almost at the rate of a team a year, he signed with his home team the Miami Dolphins in March 2022.

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Who is Teddy Bridgewater?

Teddy Bridgewater was born on November 10, 1992 in Miami, Florida. He did his high schooling at Miami Northwestern Senior High School there. Rated as a four-star recruit, he committed to University of Louisville to play his collegiate football for the Louisville Cardinals from 2011-13, after initially committing to the University of Miami. 

Bridgewater entered his freshman year as the backup quarterback, but from the 4th game onwards, he took over starting duties and finished the season having completed 191 of 296 passes for 2,129 yards with 14 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. After his impressive 2011 freshman season, Bridgewater was named the Big East Rookie of the Year and was also named a freshman All-American by Rivals.com, Scout.com, CBS Sports, and Sporting News. 

In his sophomore year and junior year, he was named MVP in both the post-season Bowl games he played in, first in the 2013 Sugar Bowl against the Florida Gators, and then in the Russell Athletic Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes. 

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He declared for the 2014 NFL Draft and the Minnesota Vikings traded up in order to snag his services, offering him a 4-year contract worth $6.85 million, and was named as the back up quarterback ahead of his rookie campaign. 

When injury struck the starting quarterback in the game against the New Orleans Saints, it paved the way for Bridgewater to make his professional and NFL debut, and he finished his debut with 150 passing yards. He made his first start soon after and played a starring role in helping the Vikings to victory, making 317 passing yards and scoring his first NFL touchdown by a 13 yard rush. 

He finished his rookie campaign with 2,919 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, was chosen as the quarterback of the 2014 NFL All-Rookie team by the Pro Football Writers of America, becoming only the 2nd Vikings quarterback to claim this accolade. He also won the Fans’ 2014 Pepsi Rookie of the Year award.

The following year, he was named to his first Pro Bowl after a season in which he finished with 3,231 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions, also rushing for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns.

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Unfortunately, Bridgewater fell prey to a debilitating anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear during the 2016 preseason, and the slow and cautious recovery from this injury led him to miss out on the entire 2016 and 2017 season with the Vikings. 

The Vikings, in the midst of this chose to not take up the option for a 5th year on his contract, and as a free agent, Bridgewater signed a 1 year contract with the New York Jets in March 2018 with a low base salary of just $500,000 guaranteed on signing, but with a heavily incentivised structure to the deal. However, the Jets traded him a few months on to the New Orleans Saints, and he began to find his feet again in the NFL after his lengthy injury induced absence- making his first start since 2015 in the 2018 season finale against the Carolina Panthers. 

He next signed with the Carolina Panthers in March 2020 on a 3 year contract worth $63 million, and finished the 2020 season with career high figures in several key areas- including completions (340), passing yards (3,733), touchdowns (15) and rushing yards (279).

He was once again traded, this time to the Denver Broncos, and after competing with Drew Lock for starting honours, he eventually won out and was named starter for the season.  However, a concussion in Week 15 brought his season to a premature end.

He signed a 1 year contract worth up to $10 million with the Miami Dolphins in March 2022.