Teddy Bridgewater spent two seasons with the New Orleans Saints and made quite the impression on Dan Campbell during that time.
On the field, Bridgewater went 5-0 as a fill-in starter for Drew Bress in 2019 after Brees broke his thumb early in the season. Off it, he helped nurture the Saints’ skill position talent, taking the team’s young receivers through extra gameplan meetings to help speed up their development on offense.
“When you’re with somebody for two years, you get a really good feel of what they’re capable of and the way they’re wired, the way he thinks, and so I’ve seen him work,” Campbell said Tuesday before the Lions’ first of two joint practices with the New York Giants. “I’ve seen him run the offense, I’ve seen him in critical moments, I’ve seen him develop young talent, young receivers. We lost Brees, he goes 5-0. He just, he went in there and he kept the ship afloat and just kept the heading right where we needed it and that means a lot to me, and that’s all we need. And so to me, that’s one of the reasons I wanted him here.”
Bridgewater still needs to pass a physical to make his signing official, but the veteran quarterback will join the Lions as a backup this week.
Campbell said Bridgewater likely will not take part in Wednesday’s second joint practice with the Giants or Friday’s preseason opener, and he insisted Bridgewater and Nate Sudfeld will spend the balance of camp competing for the No. 2 job behind Jared Goff.
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Given Campbell’s affinity for Bridgewater, though, it would be shocking if someone other than Bridgewater was active behind Goff for the Lions’ Sept. 7 season opener against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
“He’s got skins on the wall,” Campbell said. “He’s done it, he’s been it, we need to see if he’s still got it, that’s all.”
Entering his ninth NFL season, Bridgewater is 33-32 in his career as a starter.
He won the Minnesota Vikings quarterback job as a rookie in 2014 and held onto that role until the summer of 2016, when he suffered a gruesome non-contact knee injury in preseason practice. Bridgewater joined the Saints in 2018 and has played the past three seasons for the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins.
Last year, he went 0-2 as a fill-in starter for Tua Tagovailoa with the Dolphins, when he missed time with brain and finger injuries.
“Teddy’s been in every situation you can imagine right now,” Campbell said. “He’s been through probably, I don’t know, six different verbiages, offenses, so he’ll know the concepts, it’s just a matter of, ‘OK, you’re calling it this, you’re calling it this, I’m able to do this.’ So that’ll take a little bit, but listen, Teddy’s a pro, he’s going to study the heck out of it. He’ll pick it up. He’s going to pick it up pretty fast, so I’m not concerned. But yeah, it’ll take a little bit here. It’ll take a little bit.”
Campbell acknowledged that Bridgewater is insurance for a Lions team looking to fortify itself for a long playoff run this winter. Goff is the team’s unquestioned starter, but Bridgewater was one of the top backup options on the market going back to the spring and the Lions wanted to fortify the room while waiting for third-round pick Hendon Hooker to recover from his college knee injury.
Hooker, currently on the nonfootball injury list, is not expected to play this preseason.
But along with insurance, Campbell said Bridgewater can play a mentor role with some of the Lions’ young talent similar to what he did in New Orleans.
Beyond Hooker, the Lions have several first- or second-year players at their offensive skill positions expected to play key roles this fall, including receiver Jameson Williams, running back Jahmyr Gibbs and tight end Sam LaPorta.
“Hendon can learn,” Campbell said. “He ought to be watching him. He should be watching Goff, he should be watching Sudfeld. But yeah, I mean, those receivers, that was something he did really good for us. He would come in day before the game and he would take those young receivers out and go through the whole gameplan, tell them what they’re looking for. ‘Here’s the coverage. Here’s what I’m thinking. How you running this? No, I don’t like that.’ He ran the scout teams. He was competitive running cards. It was just awesome, man. He’s that type of guy. He’s an unbelievable teammate and he’s a pro. He’s a vet and he handles his business.”
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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.