Former Detroit Lions backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team announced Tuesday.
Bridgewater was scheduled to visit with the Bucs and Tuesday morning he was on the practice field. Bridgewater will bring experience to their QB room behind Baker Mayfield as Kyle Trask and Connor Bazelak are the only other quarterbacks on the roster.
“We had some discussions about it and thought it would be a nice addition to the room, it’s good for Baker,” said Buc general manager Jason Licht. He is an experienced guy, obviously very smart and is a hell of a high school coach and hell of a coach in general. Just a good addition to have that wealth of experience there.”
The potential move back into the pros full time suggests Bridgewater may not be returning to a full-time head coaching role in Miami. A falling out stemming from alleged impermissible benefits from Bridgewater to players at Miami Northwestern High School seemingly pushed him out of his previous position where he’d led the school to a state title.
He last played in the NFL briefly last season after re-signing with the Lions for their playoff run in which he did get into a series against the Washington Commanders as Jared Goff was checked for a possible injury. Bridgewater has appeared in 79 games in 10 NFL seasons.
Tuesday’s signing adds another wrinkle to the Lions backup quarterback situation as neither Kyle Allen nor Hendon Hooker performed well in the team’s first preseason game. Hooker is expected to start in their second preseason matchup against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday.