After retiring from the NFL on eve of the 2026 season, veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has shed some light on his decision.

Bridgewater, 33, officially announced his retirement in an Instagram post that explained his left knee – which he severely injured during a 2016 practice with the Minnesota Vikings – simply wasn’t recovering the way it needed to for him to continue playing.

“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,” Bridgewater wrote. “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,” he continued. “This thing just doesn’t recover the same way it did years ago so [I’d] 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.”

Bridgewater – who also briefly retired after the 2023 season and spent a season coaching high school football in Florida before rejoining the Detroit Lions for their 2024 playoff run – also made it clear he would not consider returning to the NFL in the future.

“This time it’s official,” Bridgewater wrote.

The Vikings selected Bridgewater in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft after he enjoyed a standout career at Louisville. Bridgewater quickly became a starter for the Vikings and led them to an 11-5 record and playoff berth in 2015, with many believing he would be poised to take another leap entering his age-24 season.

However, Bridgewater suffered a dislocated knee and several ligament tears, including a torn ACL, during a practice with the Vikings and missed the entire 2016 season because of it. He returned to the field in 2017 but never started another game in Minnesota.

From there, Bridgewater spent time with seven different organizations and logged action with six. He notably posted a 5-0 record in place of an injured Drew Brees with the New Orleans Saints in 2019, a stint that he parlayed into a starting job with the Carolina Panthers.

Bridgewater made 15 starts for the Panthers before being traded to the Broncos ahead of the 2021 season. He started 14 games in Denver before spending his final four seasons as a backup quarterback with the Miami Dolphins, Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Bridgewater posted a 33-32 career record across 65 starts while completing 66.3% of his passes for 15,182 yards, 75 touchdowns and 74 interceptions. He earned only one career Pro Bowl nod, which came in 2015, but his 90.3 passer rating ranks 31st all-time among qualified quarterbacks.

Bridgewater did not provide a concrete update about what would be next for him. He simply stated he is looking forward to spending time with “this sweet little angel of ours that’s coming in a couple of weeks.”

And Bridgewater also expressed he had no regrets about how his 12-year NFL career panned out.

“The game of football was beyond great to me and owes me nothing at all,” Bridgewater wrote. “I really did things my way.”

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