Former Miami Dolphins backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is returning to the NFL after his highly successful freshman year of high school.

Bridgewater has returned to the Detroit Lions, the team he was a backup for in 2023 before retiring to become head coach at his alma mater, Miami Northwestern High School, which he led to a state championship.

The Lions have added Bridgewater to their active roster, and the idea is that he will give the Lions a more proven backup for the playoffs than 2023 second-round pick Hendon Hooker, who caught nine passes in his career at the end of three blowout victories tried.

While there’s no guarantee that Bridgewater will want to continue playing with the Lions after this second stint with the Lions, the Dolphins should definitely consider him as an option next offseason if he does.

To put it bluntly, the Dolphins would have been in much better shape entering this season if they still had Bridgewater as their backup instead of the combination of Skylar Thompson, Tyler “Snoop” Huntley and Tim Boyle.

Bridgewater actually did a very good job as Tua Tagovailoa’s backup in 2022, aside from being able to stay in the lineup.

And with a starting quarterback with Tagovailoa’s injury history, the Dolphins couldn’t afford to have a fragile backup, so leaving Bridgewater after one season was a logical move. But if they don’t have a better option next offseason, the Dolphins should reconsider the idea of ​​bringing Bridgewater back.

As Tagovailoa’s backup in 2022, the production was there for Bridgewater, and that’s a fact, regardless of what some Dolphins fans would have you believe.

As we previously reported here, Bridgewater played about nine quarters in his five appearances in 2022, although he didn’t play more than three full quarters in any of those appearances.

But extrapolating to a full 17-game season, Bridgewater’s stats were over 5,300 yards in his five games and Tyreek Hill’s stats with Bridgewater were over 2,300 yards.

So production wasn’t the problem.

Again, who knows if Bridgewater has any interest in being a backup again in 2025, but if so, the Dolphins could do worse. That’s exactly what they did this year. And that move proved costly, as the Dolphins probably wouldn’t have gone 1-3 with Bridgewater as their backup (assuming he stayed healthy), as they did this season when Tagovailoa was on injured reserve.