The Lions head coach provided some clarity about their interest in Bridgewater and the backup quarterback competition.

The Detroit Lions showed interest in free agent quarterback Teddy Bridgewater back in the spring, and they did again this week by bringing him into a visit on Monday.

Before Tuesday’s training camp practice, Coach Dan Campbell gave some insight into the team’s meeting with Bridgewater this week.

“It went well. Gave us a chance to sit down with him face-to-face, particularly (with) Ben (Johnson) and (Mark Brunell) Bru and Brad (Holmes),” Campbell said. “Gets me face-to-face with him again and then just the medical. It was good. It was a good visit. We’ll see where it goes.”

Currently, the Lions have Nate Sudfeld as their backup. While Sudfeld has never started an NFL game in his three years in the league, Campbell did express confidence in his ability earlier this week.

“We like Nate though and he really—just to be around him and watch him pick up the playbook, watch him on scout team last year—we never felt like, if we needed him, that it was going to be (an issue),” Campbell said.

That said, this Lions team is entering a new era. Expectations are much higher, which means there is more on the line. A quarterback injury could derail a season if the backup job isn’t protected. And Bridgewater has proven to be a capable backup—winning five straight games in New Orleans as an injury replacement for Drew Brees in 2019. And while he went 0-2 backing up Tua Tagovailoa last season, he still completed 62 percent of his passes for an impressive 8.6 yards per attempt.

Just like any other position, the Lions are not going to shy away from adding competition where they can.

“We’re year three and I think we’re in a much better position and you want to know that you are in the best hands possible. I’ll leave it at that,” Campbell said. “But that’s also—it’s the competition. It doesn’t mean that Nate’s out of anything if we go this route, if it works out. You’ll feel good about whoever comes out of the fire is going to be the right guy to help you along the way, but yeah, you don’t want the wheels to fall off.”

The latest reports from Monday night suggest no signing is imminent with the Lions and Bridgewater, but that can certainly change in a hurry. Stay tuned.