Who Should I Start? Teddy Bridgewater or Taylor Heinicke

Saturday, December 16, 12:28 PM

Detroit Lions backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said that he plans to hang up his cleats and retire from professional football after the 2023 season concludes. In his ninth NFL season, Bridgewater hasn't attempted a pass this year as the backup to Jared Goff in his first year in Detroit. The 31-year-old was once considered a franchise QB for the Minnesota Vikings before suffering a devastating knee injury. He spent the first three years of his career in Minnesota and made his lone Pro Bowl appearance in 2015. Injuries continued to limit Bridgewater in recent years, and he made only two starts for the Miami Dolphins since 2021. If Bridgewater doesn't play the rest of this season, he'll end his career with a 66.4 completion percentage on 2,067 attempts for 15,120 yards, 75 touchdowns and 47 interceptions in 79 games (65 starts) with Minnesota, New Orleans, Carolina, Denver and Miami.

Tuesday, April 2, 2:21 PM

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Taylor Heinicke took a pay cut recently from an expected $5 million base salary in 2024 to $1.21 million, according to Roster Management System. His $1.32 million roster bonus, which was due just after the league year began last month, was instead classified as a signing bonus. His $40,000 per game active roster bonus was also removed from his contract. The reduction in his deal lowers Heinicke's salary cap number from $8.96 million to $4.53 million, including a cash value of $2.53 million. If Atlanta were to release him, he would cost $3.32 million in dead money with only a cap savings of $1.21 million. The 31-year-old got a chance to start in 2023 when Desmond Ridder was benched, but Heinicke did nothing to separate himself and also got hurt. He'll enter 2024 as the backup to starter Kirk Cousins.