Teddy Bridgewater’s Weird Problem Continues
Remember the summer drama about Teddy Bridgewater providing illegal benefits to high school players that he coached to a championship last year?
Former Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater has encountered a weird problem from a previous endeavor, and the plot thickened last week.
That ordeal is back, and Bridgewater, now the backup quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been suspended from coaching high school football in Florida.
The man cannot return to the high school coaching ranks this season.
Teddy Bridgewater’s Robin Hood Plan Faceplants
A strange situation from the get-go.
Teddy Bridgewater Suspended by Florida Athletic High School Association
Florida HS football wants nothing to do with Bridgewater for the rest of the year.
CBS Sports‘ Carter Bahns wrote last week: “Former Miami Northwestern High School football coach Teddy Bridgewater has been suspended for the rest of the 2025-26 school year for providing impermissible benefits to athletes, the Florida High School Athletic Association announced Friday. Bridgewater left the Northwestern staff on Aug. 4 to take a roster spot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is currently the backup to Baker Mayfield.”
“The FHSAA also issued a reprimand to Northwestern and levied a $2,500 penalty against the school. All but $250 of that fine will be returned to the school, which handed down the suspension approved by the FHSAA, if it does not commit further violations.”
So, that’s that. After a championship, the FHSAA brought the hammer down on Bridgewater.
A Bizarre Saga from Start to Finish
Bridgewater said this summer about the allegations: “I’m protective, and I’m a father first before anything. And when I decided to coach, those players became my sons. And I wanted to make sure that I just protected them in the best way that I can.”
“I think that’s what came about. Miami Northwestern in a tough neighborhood and sometimes things can happen when the kids are walking home and things like that. So I was just trying to protect them and give them a ride home instead of having to take those dangerous walks.”
Defiant in the face of the scrutiny, Bridgewater offered no regrets and likely won’t change his tune.
Giving High Schoolers Too Many Perks
Bridgewater provided students with Uber rides, meals, clothing, and strength + conditioning from his own pocket.
When the controversy came to light in July, most folks shrugged their shoulders, acknowledging that there are certainly worse things in the world than a rich NFLer financially empowering his players. But the FHSAA evidently ruled that Bridgewater fostered an unfair advantage with his spending habits.
That is — not all high school players are entitled to the Bridgewater spa treatment, making the arrangement unfair and illegal.
It’s just that the average person doesn’t care. “Good for him,” they say about Bridgewater.
Bridgewater Gainfully Employed as Buccaneers QB2
Meanwhile, Bridgewater isn’t hurting.
He’s earning over a million bucks this season to sit on the bench in Tampa Bay, as the Buccaneers have cruised to a 2-0 start with Baker Mayfield hitting on all cylinders. If Mayfield gets hurt, Bridgewater will be the next man up.
Bridgewater probably won’t be a high school coach again anytime soon — why would he want to be after this mess? — but the ex-Vikings passer had no problem landing on his feet after the banishment by Florida high schools.
More on the Suspension
Bahns added on the Bridgewater situation: “Northwestern suspended Bridgewater in July after he revealed in a social media post that he spent $700 a week on Uber rides for his players during the 2024 season. Bridgewater also said he spent $14,000 for a four-night preseason training camp, $9,500 on Northwestern-branded clothing, $1,300 per week for postgame recovery trucks and $2,200 per week for pregame meals.”
“In the post, he asked for donations to the Northwestern football program. Bridgewater won the Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year award in 2024 after he led Northwestern to a Florida Class 3A state championship. His squad went 12-2 and cruised through the playoffs with a number of lopsided results en route to the state title.”
Most football fans on social media sympathized with Bridgewater.
Bahns added, “The championship season was Bridgewater’s first and only campaign at Northwestern and his lone season as a coach in any capacity. While he initially announced his retirement from the NFL in February 2024 and promptly took the coaching job, Bridgewater returned to the field at the end of the high school season when the Detroit Lions signed him for the final weeks of their 2024 campaign.”
“He played in the divisional round game against the Washington Commanders when Jared Goff sat briefly to undergo evaluation for a possible concussion.”
Bridgewater will turn 33 in November, and his Buccaneers next play the New York Jets at home.
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