Retired QB Teddy Bridgewater beginning football HC In Raiders
In three short years, Dan Campbell has established a winning culture in Detroit, and transformed the Lions into one of the NFL’s best teams.
Detroit Lions tackle Penei Sewell is participating in the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games in Orlando, Florida this week.
One of the perks of being selected to the Pro Bowl Games is the opportunity to visit one or more of the many theme parks in the city. Sewell and teammate Jahmyr Gibbs paid a visit to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure on Friday. The former Oregon star and Gibbs decided the try out the park’s “Jurassic Park’s VelociCoaster” ride.
According to the park’s website, the “VelociCoaster,” is the “fastest and tallest launch coaster in Florida.” At the very start of the ride, riders are launched to a speed of 70 mph in just 2.4 seconds. Later, riders experience “one of the most unique elements of the ride, a 155-foot tall “Top Hat” which gives you the illusion of flying over Islands of Adventure for a moment before dropping 140 feet down at 80 degrees.”
A photo of Sewell and Gibbs on the ride was posted on TikTok by user @kokonutwtr. Based on the expressions of the two, it’s hard to tell if they were having fun or terrified.
Teddy Bridgewater made it known he’d be hanging it up as an NFL player following the Detroit Lions’ season.
That doesn’t mean he’s walking away from football, though.
Bridgewater is returning to his alma mater to become the head coach of the Miami (Florida) Northwestern High football team, the school announced Friday.
A first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Louisville, Bridgewater played 79 games with 65 starts across a career that spanned nine seasons (he missed all of 2016 due to a knee injury) with six teams. He threw for 15,120 yards and 75 touchdowns in his career.
But it all began as a Bull with Miami Northwestern, where he starred. The school’s football field was recently renamed in his honor and now he’ll take over a program that went 4-6 last season.
He’ll be looking to return the Bulls to the glory they realized during his playing days, as the 31-year-old has retired from the playing field but isn’t leaving the gridiron.
Teddy Bridgewater’s next chapter has already begun. The former Detroit Lions quarterback is now the head football coach at his alma mater, Miami Northwestern Senior High School.
The news of Bridgewater’s new gig was reported by Andy Villamarzo of SBLive Sports on Friday. The 31-year-old Bridgewater served as Jared Goff’s backup this season, a commitment that closed with the Lions’ season ending in a 34-31 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 28.
Not even a week later, Bridgewater began his new role at the school by meeting with the team’s returning players and personnel, Miami Northwestern athletic director Andre Williams told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.
Bridgewater was selected in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He played for seven NFL teams in 10 years. He participated in just one play for the Lions this season, a kneel-down to seal a win over the Carolina Panthers. In December, he announced his plans to retire once the campaign was over, citing his hopes to become a high school coach and spend more time with his two sons.
Bridgewater is now spending his retirement exactly how he said he would, and he stands to make a significant impact on the new job. Bridgewater’s predecessor, Michaelee Harris, led the Bulls to a 4-6 season last year.
Williams told ESPN that he believes Bridgewater turned down collegiate coaching opportunities to take the reins at Miami Northwestern.
Williams isn’t solely focused on getting the football program victories on the field, a perspective that seems to align with Bridgewater’s goals.
Bridgewater recorded 6,712 passing yards and 70 touchdowns during his time at Miami Northwestern. He built on his high school experience and took his talents to Louisville, earning Big East Rookie of the Year honors before winning Sugar Bowl MVP as a junior. His NFL career was hampered when he suffered a dislocated knee with a torn ACL and some other damage ahead of the 2016 campaign with the Vikings.
The following years brought a variety of other injuries, and Bridgewater ended his NFL career having started 65 games. Most of his starts came during the 2014 and 2015 seasons with Minnesota and in 2020 for Carolina and 2021 for the Denver Broncos. He recorded career totals of 15,120 passing yards, 75 touchdowns and 47 interceptions.
For Bridgewater, coaching comes as an opportunity to fulfill what he views as a greater calling.”When I got hurt, I realized that I’m only a football player for three hours on a Sunday afternoon,” Bridgewater told The Detroit Free Press when discussing his plans to retire. “Outside of that, I’m Theodore Bridgewater, so it just put everything into perspective, and it really helped me not even have to think about not being a starter [anymore]. It’s like, ‘Man, I still got purpose.’ And my purpose is bigger than the game of football. Football is just a platform that I have.”
Patience is a virtue. The Seattle Seahawks twiddled their thumbs and bided their time, waiting for the postseason to end to hire their top target: Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
Seattle was one of the last teams to fill its vacancy, but at the end of the day, the Seahawks ended up with arguably the top candidate in this year’s crop of new head coaches. Time will tell if Macdonald can replicate the success Pete Carroll had as the head coach for 14 seasons, but his profile should have fans of the team excited, particularly for a franchise that routinely plays some of the top offensive minds in the NFL.
Expecting Macdonald to come in and reproduce the 2023 Ravens defense wouldn’t be fair to him or the players Seattle currently has on its roster, but there are some pieces that should fit well with what Macdonald ran. Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton developed into one of the best defensive backs in the league under Macdonald’s tutelage, becoming one of the most feared slot defenders in football. This isn’t a one-for-one comparison, but cornerback Devon Witherspoon can play the blitzing role in similar fashion as Hamilton. According to Sports Info Solutions, Hamilton rushed the passer 34 times in the regular season to Witherspoon’s 28. Both players finished the season with three sacks. If Macdonald wants to continue to have that as a weapon in his defense, Witherspoon is well-versed in what it takes to be a successful player in the slot.
There are other Seahawks defensive players with upside like cornerback Tariq Woolen, edge rushers Boye Mafe and Derick Hall and a big-ticket free agent from last year in defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones. Even though the Seahawks have some talented players on the defensive roster, they didn’t exactly perform well as a defensive unit. According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, the Seahawks ranked 27th in expected points allowed per dropback (0.01) and 31st in expected points allowed per rushing attempt (0.01). This was one of the worst defenses in football, so it’s time to figure out how much of that was personnel based or scheme and coaching based. If Macdonald is as sharp as he appears, the Seahawks should see a big jump in their defensive numbers.
Getting the defensive side of the ball moving in the right direction again matters a ton in a division featuring Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan as regular foes Seattle has to face four times a season. The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers are going to be able to score as long as those two are in charge of their respective teams. Hiring one of the top defensive minds in football makes sense as a counterpunch.
