Allen Park — In the spirit of competition, the Detroit Lions continue to explore ways to improve their roster at all positions, including quarterback. On Monday, the Lions continued to look closely at veteran Teddy Bridgewater, hosting him for a visit at the team’s facility, according to the league’s official transaction wire.
This isn’t the first time the sides have been connected. In April, ESPN reported the Lions had extended a contract offer to the 2014 first-round draft pick who started five games as an injury replacement for Tua Tagovailoa in Miami last season.
Bridgewater, who began his career in Minnesota, spent four years with the Vikings before stops in New Orleans, Carolina, Denver and Miami. In eight seasons, he’s made 65 starts, he’s completed 66.4% of his passes for 75 touchdowns and 47 interceptions, for a 90.5 passer rating. He missed the entire 2016 season after suffering a gruesome non-contact injury during an offseason practice that nearly ended his career.
Jared Goff is firmly entrenched as Detroit’s starter and he’s backed up by Nate Sudfeld, who joined the team just ahead of the start of the 2022 season. With a year of experience with the franchise under his belt, Sudfeld has looked like an adequate backup option for the Lions.
“We like Nate,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday morning. “…Here’s what you want to know, that a guy can go in there and at the very least, he’s going to get you in the right play. He can function, he’s not going to panic. Now, is everything going to be perfect right, (not necessarily), but you just want to know, hey, this isn’t going to be too big for him and he knows the playbook, he’ll get us in the right play and we’ve got to play a certain way and I do believe that with Nate.
“That’s the starting point,” Campbell said. “And now we get him another year here, we’re in camp, let’s see where he goes. I thought by the end of spring, he was doing some really good things, so we’re excited to have him back.”
Additionally, the Lions drafted their presumptive backup of the future, Hendon Hooker, in the third round of April’s NFL draft. He’s currently on the non-football injury list as he continues to rehab his way back from a torn ACL he suffered last year at the University of Tennessee.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers