Teddy Bridgewater's comeback has been *the* best story of the preseason. The New York Jets' backup quarterback has been phenomenal, dropping dimes, firing lasers and looking like an NFL starter.
Bridgewater's performance reminds that he was once the future face of the Minnesota Vikings before the former first-round pick suffered a gruesome knee injury during a non-contact drop back in August 2016.
Speaking with ESPN.com's Ian O'Connor, Dr. Dan Cooper, who performed Bridgewater's surgery, described just how devastating the knee injury was for the QB.
"It was just a horribly grotesque injury," Cooper said. "It's mangled. You make the skin incision, and there's nothing there. It's almost like a war wound. Everything is blown."
Cooper, the Dallas Cowboys team physician, who was recommended to Bridgewater by Bill Parcells, performed two separate surgeries, including reconstructing the QB's ACL. Fortunately, Bridgewater did not suffer arterial or nerve damage that could have necessitated amputation.
"But it's certainly the worst knee dislocation in sports I've ever seen without having a nerve or vessel injury," Cooper said. "It's an injury that about 20-25 percent of NFL players are able to come back from. ... It's a horrific injury. You've torn every single thing in your knee and it's hanging on by one ligament on one side like a hinge."
Bridgewater making it back to be one of those 20 percenters is a testament to his fortitude.
"This surgery was an absolute gut test, a test of what you're made of, and I've seen it break people down," Cooper said. "I never saw it break Teddy down. ... Most people have no idea the volume of the workload this kid had to put in. He had a toothpick of a leg he had to rebuild."
One thing the is clear: Teddy's comeback is even more impressive after reading the doctor's comments.