Teddy Bridgewater may have retired, but the Detroit Lions’ signing of him last year is still paying dividends… thanks to a reformed Jameson Williams.
Last year when the Detroit Lions signed Teddy Bridgewater, it was a nice boost to the quarterback room, giving Detroit some much-needed insurance at the quarterback position. But from the minute that signing was made, coach Dan Campbell noted that Bridgewater’s impact was going to go well beyond his own position.
“He would come in, day before the game, and he would take those young receivers out, go through the whole game plan,” Campbell said of Bridgewater during their collective years with the New Orleans Saints . “Tell them what they are looking for: ‘Here is the coverage, here is what I am thinking, how are you running this? No, I do not like that.’ He ran the scout teams, he was competitive, running cards. It was just awesome man. He is that type of guy, an unbelievable teammate.”
It became clear that signing Bridgewater was as much about mentoring rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker as it was Jameson Williams. And it appears that decision is paying dividends this year.
Williams has been a revelation this offseason—and it really started toward the end of 2023. His route tree has expanded, his production has increased, and the Lions coaching staff has a level of trust in the third-year receiver that didn’t exist in the first two years. Most of all, his maturity level is noticeably up, and that’s something that Williams directly attributes to Bridgewater.
In an interview with Fox 2’s Dan Miller, Williams credits Bridgewater for an entire mentality shift midway through the 2023 season .
“Teddy came in, and he got my mind so focused on what I needed to do,” Williams said. “I was in a wrong place. Teddy came in and he helped me so much, man. He just came in, told me, ‘You do this, you do that,’ how to do it, how to do this. He taught me more of the offense. He had been around Dan a little bit, he had been around these coaches a lot. He just helped me in a lot [of ways], man. Off the field, I couldn’t even explain how much he helped me. I think that was maybe the turning point.”
Bridgewater retired from the NFL this year to pursue coaching youth football down in Florida, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to work with Williams this offseason. Back in March, the two were working out together—along with Lions receiver Maurice Alexander—to get in some extra work .
“He’s a guy I really want to see have a long future in this league because we all know he was a first-rounder for a reason,” Bridgwater said last year. “I just want to challenge him to be the best player he can be, be a true pro. And I’m excited I get to challenge him and really, I’m going to implement some things that are really going to make him hate me. But it’s going to be great for JG (Jared Goff), it’s going to be great for this offense, this organization. I’m excited about his future.”
The future is now for Williams, and the Lions have Bridgewater to thank for that.