Bridgewater is hoping to make the best of his NFL return

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Teddy Bridgewater always planned to play football this year. Just maybe not quite this early. In a perfect world, the well-traveled quarterback wouldn't be spending this weekend in Pittsburgh getting ready for his preseason debut with Tampa Bay, but in Miami helping Northwestern High prepare to defend the Florida Class 3A title he coached his alma mater to last winter. Don't get Bridgewater wrong. The 32-year-old — whose retirement hasn't quite stuck more than 18 months after he announced it — is eager to go out and show he can still "spin it." And he's grateful to do it for a team that has ripped off four straight NFC South titles, a team that also happens to be not that far from home. Still, Bridgewater would be lying if he said this was his first choice. The plan was always to coach until Northwestern's season was over, then explore his options in the NFL, just as he did last year when he made a cameo with Detroit as Jared Goff's backup during the Lions' playoff push. A seemingly innocuous social media post changed everything. Suspension changes plans Bridgewater's Facebook message was designed to find donors willing to help offset team expenses not covered by the school, expenses — from food to rides home from practice — that he freely admitted he paid out of his own pocket in 2024. Yet his admission also constituted potential violations concerning impermissible benefits. Bridgewater — who did not take a salary as head coach — self-reported the payments and was subsequently suspended. The Florida High School Athletic Association's investigation is ongoing. "It's very upsetting," Bridgewater said following a joint practice between the Buccaneers and Steelers ahead of their preseason game at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday night. "Just knowing that you have good intentions and those good intentions will be turned against you and used against you." It's unclear when a resolution might come. For Bridgewater, who still communicates regularly with his at-the-moment former players, it can't get here fast enough. "I'm hoping to get it resolved because those kids have a special place in my heart," Bridgewater said. "And I'd love to finish what I started with them." Bridgewater didn't even rule out making the four-ish hour drive from Tampa to Miami on Fridays when the Buccaneers' schedule allows to attend a Northwestern game as a fan, at least for now. He'd love the opportunity to return one day as the coach of the school where he became a star in the late 2000s before embarking on a decorated college career at Louisville, followed by a nomadic journey through the NFL. Setting an example from afar When Bridgewater announced after the 2023 season that he was stepping away, he thought it would stick. He quickly agreed to become the head coach at Northwestern, eager to start the next chapter of his life. Yet he also stayed in shape, even taking snaps during the spring game, headset on all the while. He also remained in contact with Lions coach Dan Campbell and realized that playing could not only let him feed a passion to play that is very much still there, but set another kind of example in the process. "I always see it as motivation for the kids to know that you can do whatever you put your mind to," Bridgewater said. "As long as you build those healthy relationships, continue to train, work hard year-round, opportunities are going to come." Enter Tampa Bay, which reached out looking for someone experienced to join a quarterback room that includes Baker Mayfield, coming off the best season of his career. Bridgewater isn't with the Buccaneers to be the starter like he was during stints in Minnesota, Carolina and Denver, but a resource. "Most good quarterbacks have another guy in there that's a veteran, that's pretty savvy, that understands the game and knows the game," Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said. "And (Teddy) can help Baker out. Coaching helps (Baker) out, but there's nothing like seeing it from a player's standpoint, and (Teddy) can give that to Baker." There's also a fair amount of life left in Bridgewater's right arm. Wearing No. 16, he more than held his own while taking snaps during the joint practice with Pittsburgh. And with Mayfield getting the night off on Saturday, Bridgewater figures to get some extended run for the first time in a long time. However the rest of his 2025 goes, don't expect Bridgewater to commit full time to becoming one of those quarterbacks who are just fine with bouncing around the NFL deep into their 30s. His preference in the near term would be to find a way to still have the best of both worlds: coaching high schoolers during the fall, then seeing what work might be there for him when the calendar nears late December. He received feelers during the offseason after his stint with the Lions, and his answer was always some version of "I'm up for it, check back when Northwestern is done." Told preferring an unpaid coaching gig over the far more lucrative life of an NFL quarterback — even a backup one — makes him an outlier of sorts, and Bridgewater just shrugged. "Yeah, I can make a ton of money playing football and coaching high school ball, I get nothing," he said. "But it's not even about the money. It's about giving those kids a building block to go out into the real world and be productive." ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl