It has been nearly two years since Teddy Bridgewater suffered what has been called one of the most gruesome knee injuries in NFL history, but no one can describe it quite as well as the man who performed the surgery.
Bridgewater gave his surgeon, Dan Cooper, permission to share some details about the quarterback’s injury and recovery with ESPN’s Ian O’Connor. Cooper, who is the Dallas Cowboys’ team surgeon and has seen countless injuries, described Bridgewater’s as a “horribly grotesque injury.”
“It’s mangled,” the doctor said. “You make the skin incision, and there’s nothing there. It’s almost like a war wound. Everything is blown.”
While there were initially reports that Bridgewater was in danger of having his leg amputated, Cooper said Bridgewater was able to avoid the type of arterial or nerve damage that would make an amputation necessary. However, the surgeon said the damage Bridgewater sustained is something only about 20-25 percent of NFL players ever return from.
“It’s a horrific injury,” he said. “You’ve torn every single thing in your knee and it’s hanging on by one ligament on one side like a hinge.”
Bridgewater needed his ACL and several other ligaments in his leg reconstructed, and all indications are that he has fully recovered. He has looked extremely sharp in the preseason with the New York Jets, which is why multiple teams are reportedly interesting in trading for him. Even if he’s never able to return to 100 percent of his pre-injury form, his surgeon’s description of the injury is a good reminder of how remarkable the recovery has been.
