Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said this time his decision to retire is going to stick.
Bridgewater announced that he is retiring from the NFL for the second time Monday, a day after the Detroit Lions placed him on the reserve/retired list.
"This time it's official," he wrote in an Instagram post.
Bridgewater, 33, retired after the 2023 season only to return to the Lions late in the following campaign. He served as Baker Mayfield's backup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025 and then signed with the Lions in March.
His retirement comes 10 years after he suffered a devastating knee injury on a noncontact play in training camp with the Minnesota Vikings that threatened to end his NFL career just two years after it began and one season after he was selected to the Pro Bowl.
"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. Everything football related since 2016 had been fueled by the 'experts' predicting that I would never play football again," he wrote in his post Monday. "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. This thing just doesn't recover the same way it did years ago so I 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. The game of football was beyond great to me and owes me nothing at all."
Bridgewater finishes his NFL career with 15,182 yards passing, 75 touchdown passes and 47 interceptions, having started games for the Vikings (28), who selected him with the No. 32 pick in the 2014 draft; New Orleans Saints (six); Carolina Panthers (15); Denver Broncos (14); and Miami Dolphins (two).
Lions coach Dan Campbell praised Bridgewater on Sunday when he announced the veteran quarterback was leaving the team.
"I've known Teddy a long time, and the human being is unbelievable. Certainly, the player, everything that he's about. The type of teammate he is, the way he prepares ... always played the game up here and had a huge heart," Campbell said. "He's going to be missed."
Before he returned to the NFL in 2024, Bridgewater took the job as the coach of his prep alma mater, Miami Northwestern Senior High School, and led the team led to a Class 3A state championship. However, he was suspended from the job for allegedly providing impermissible benefits to his players. Bridgewater posted on Facebook that he paid for Uber rides, meals and recovery services for his players during the 2024 season and self-reported his activity to the school.
His suspension and public backlash to it ultimately led to a new law in Florida. Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the "Teddy Bridgewater Act" into law, allowing high school coaches in the state to use their own money to help their players with expenses such as food, transportation, physical therapy and rehabilitation services.
ESPN's Eric Woodyard contributed to this report.