Teddy Bridgewater was suspended as coach at Miami Northwestern High for providing food, clothing and rides to players.
This story has a happy ending for Teddy Bridgewater. He has signed and is practicing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and will be one of their backup quarterbacks unless he completely botches his opportunities in practice or the preseason.
But this story didn’t start out quite so auspiciously, because only two weeks ago, Bridgewater was not only out of the NFL but found himself suspended from his job as the coach of the Northwestern High School (Miami) football team.
Bridgewater won a Class 3A state championship with that team last season but was suspended in mid-July for providing his players “impermissible benefits.”
TAMPA, FL – AUGUST 05: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles hugs Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater as General Manager Jason Licht smiles during the Training Camp work out on August 05, 2025 at the AdventHealth Training Center at One Buccaneer Place in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Bridgewater Did Good For A Reason
Bridgerwater, by his own admission, paid for food, clothing, recovery sessions and even Uber rides for the kids to get home from practice or after games.
And when this story first became public, I got more than a few people who asked why any high school coach would have to pay $700 over the course of the season for his players to take rides home.
When we were kids, the sentiment of the questions followed, we walked to school. And we walked to and from the game, usually carrying our own gear.
Well, Bridgewater addressed that very sentiment on Wednesday:
“I’m a father first before anything,” he told reporters. “And when I decided to coach, those players became my sons. And I wanted to make sure I protected them best that I can and that’s how it came about.
“Miami Northwestern is in a tough neighborhood and sometimes things can happen when kids are walking home and things like that. So I just tried to protect them and give them a ride home instead of having them take those dangerous walks.”
Miami Northwestern quarterback Leon Strawder (#12) keeps the ball and finds some space between Venice High defenders Asharri Charles (#5) and Kane Judson (#36) in the first quarter. The Venice Indians hosted Miami Northwestern Bulls in a non-conference game Friday evening, Aug. 30, 2024.
Liberty City A Dangerous Place
And now a heartbreaking reality sets in.
Northwestern is in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. It is an almost all-Black area that is plagued by poverty and crime.
Liberty City is consistently ranked among Miami’s high-crime neighborhoods, with violent and property crime rates far exceeding the city’s average by 96 to 295 percent, depending on the neighborhood it is compared with.
On January 21, 2025, a 19-year-old male was shot in Liberty City near Northwest 13th Avenue and 60th Street. In November 2024, shootings occurred near Northwest 22nd Avenue and 65th Street. Among the victims were two boys, ages 15 and 17, and a 22-year-old man.
The summary table of kids as young as 12 getting shot on the streets of Liberty City ranges back years, and includes a fatality in 2016.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 16: Teddy Bridgewater #10 of the Detroit Lions runs off the field during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at Ford Field on December 16, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Ryan Kang/Getty Images)
Bridgewater: Motivate And Influence Kids
Bridgewater was reared in that Liberty City neighborhood and played at Northwestern before going on to the University of Louisville. He knows of what he speaks.
He knows what those players face. What they feel.
“It’s a great group of kids and they see so much hope when they look at me,” Bridgewater said. “And I always said it was food for my soul. It’s the way I feed my soul and helps me to stay young being around those kids.”
Bridgewater and his former players will be separated this season, but the quarterback hopes he can continue to motivate the youngsters.
“Maybe they can come and watch the Bucs play and see coach on the sideline and say, ‘Man, coach is continuing to serve as motivation,” Bridgewater said, “And continuing to influence us any way possible – showing us you can make it to the NFL, showing us you can coach, showing us there are different avenues of life you can take.”
