Earlier this month, former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater notched quite a feat: In his first year of retirement from the league, the ex-Detroit Lions player returned to his high school alma mater, Miami Northwestern High, in February and coached that football team to a state championship, per the AP. That victory must've gotten Bridgewater's playing juices flowing—the 32-year-old has now signed with the Lions again, head coach Dan Campbell confirms. "It'll be good to get him back in the fold," Campbell said at a Thursday presser, per the Athletic.
Campbell noted that the team's addition of Bridgewater is no reflection on the Lions' current No. 2 quarterback, Hendon Hooker, who took over as Jared Goff's backup once Bridgewater left. "This does not mean that Hooker is out," Campbell said. "Hooker is gonna play for us. But Teddy probably will, too," as Bridgewater "understands our offense well, the guys know him well, the coaches know him well, and he brings a certain level of comfort to us." Bridgewater, for his part, says he's not ditching the high school team he's been coaching.
"My team knows that's the plan," he recently told the NFL Network. "We wanted to win a state championship and then coach goes back to the league, see what happens, and then come back February in the offseason, continue coaching high school football." Bridgewater, who played for six teams during his decade in the NFL, had reportedly received some NFL coaching inquiries as well, but a source tells ESPN that Bridgewater is itching to notch an NFL championship win as a player first. (More Detroit Lions stories.)