GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell now have a big problem to solve before the season. The Detroit Lions are left without a backup quarterback with a month left before Week 1.
On Sunday, the team announced Teddy Bridgewater's decision to step away and placed him on the reserved/retired list.
Campbell was understandably emotional when discussing the Bridgewater news. Per team insider Nolan Bianchi, the Lions head coach said, "[Bridgewater's] biggest worry was letting us down. That's the type of guy he is." This sentiment was shared by many in the fanbase and the organization.
At the same time, this doesn't mean that we should ignore the team's obvious offseason mistake that has put them in this difficult spot of having to scramble to find a capable QB2.
Lions could have avoided this with the right offseason approach at QB
The Lions didn't consider the QB room a priority all offseason. They were content with starting the season with Bridgewater as the backup quarterback. They didn't bring in any signal-callers who could realistically challenge the 33-year-old.
A lot of teams around the league like to take a chance on quarterbacks in later rounds of the draft, even if they don't have a clear need for a QB. You simply can't have too much talent in the QB room. The Lions didn't select a QB in the draft for the third straight year, even though there were six quarterbacks selected on Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Instead, the Lions signed UDFA Luke Altmyer afterwards. He has been better than expected in OTAs and training camp, but expecting such an unproven signal-caller to take the reins as the QB2 on a team with Super Bowl aspirations is unrealistic.
They also ignored the position entirely in free agency. Despite the fact that Bridgewater hadn't started a game in over three years and had an injury history that led to his retirement after the 2023 season, the Lions seemed surprisingly confident in Bridgewater's ability to be a competent backup.
This was likely partly because the Lions haven't had to rely on their QB2 in the Jared Goff era. Goff hasn't missed a single game in the last four seasons. So, perhaps Brad Holmes and Campbell have forgotten about the importance of the position. This is surprising given how much they talked about the depth and talent on the roster all offseason.
At the end of the day, this might not matter, and let's hope that this is the case. However, the Lions' offseason approach regarding the QB room was a bad process, to say the least.
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