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Teddy Bridgewater is playing for the Buccaneers, but his heart is with his high school players at Miami Northwestern.
It didn’t take long after Miami Northwestern High School football coach and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was suspended for helping his players with rides, food and various other things to help them participate in high school football for the backlash to kick in.
In terms of right and wrong, it seemed like Bridgewater, a longtime NFL quarterback, going out of his own pocket to help kids at his alma mater who needed a hand up shouldn’t be something he was suspended for the entire 2025 season for.
Now, the Florida Senate has made sure it can never happen again.
Bridgewater, who led Miami Northwestern to the state championship in 2024, has approximately $67.3 million in career earnings through 12 seasons.
From NFL.com: “The Florida Senate on Thursday unanimously passed CS/CS/SB 178, known as the ‘Teddy Bridgewater Act,’ which authorizes K-12 head coaches to use $15,000 in personal funds per year to support student-athlete welfare. The bill was immediately certified by a 38-0 vote. Officially, the act requires, “the Florida High School Athletic Association to adopt bylaws authorizing a head coach to support the welfare of a student by using personal funds to provide certain effects to the student; requiring the head coach to report such use of personal funds to the association; providing that such use of personal funds is presumed not to be an impermissible benefit, etc.”
Bridgewater Handed Punishment in September 2025
Bridgewater, a 2014 1st round pick (No. 32 overall) by the Minnesota Vikings, came on late in training camp in 2025 and took the backup job away from veteran Kyle Trask.
“Bridgewater latched on with the Bucs as their backup for Baker Mayfield late in the offseason, and his reason for returning to the NFL quickly became clear,” Heavy.com’s Owen Crisafuli wrote on September 30. “After initially retiring from football and transitioning into coaching high school football, Bridgewater was suspended from his position with Miami Northwestern High School, and his punishment for his role in a strange controversy was recently revealed.”
The former Louisville was accused of providing Uber rides, meals, and recovery services for his players and resigned from his position as head coach in August 2025.
Bridgewater was a 4-star recruit out of Miami Northwestern in the Class of 2010.
Public Support Entirely Behind Bridgewater
Bridgewater found support from all corners before and after the Florida Senate passed the act in his name.
“Good,” NFL reporter Matthew Coller wrote on X after the act was passed. “How about an apology to him too? They made Teddy seem like some kinda criminal for buying food and Uber rides for kids.”
“So many high school coaches use their own money to support their student athletes and provide food and transportation,” Tampa Bay Times NFL reporter Rick Stroud wrote on X. “Teddy Bridgewater made a huge impact here.”
“This is awesome: The Florida Senate has passed the Teddy Bridgewater Act, allowing high school coaches to use up to $15k of their own funds to support student-athletes,” NFL influencer Dov Kleiman wrote on their official X account. “The bill allows middle and high school coaches to use up to $15k of their own funds to support student-athletes with food, transportation, and recovery services. Teddy has changed the world for the better.”
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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