No one knows the true extent of Teddy Bridgewater's comeback quite like his surgeon.
After a Pro Bowl season in 2015, Bridgewater suffered a major knee injury during a non-contact drill in training camp the following year. Following a long recovery, he signed with the New York Jets and has dazzled in this year's preseason.
Bridgewater allowed his surgeon to speak with ESPN's Ian O'Connor about the two surgeries that led to his revamped career.
"It was just a horribly grotesque injury," Dan 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 said Bridgewater tore all but one ligament in his knee, an injury only 20-25 percent of NFL players can recover from.
"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," he said.
Now, after two preseason appearances in which he's completed 73 percent of his passes and thrown two touchdowns, Bridgewater has rebuilt his professional value to the point where he's rumored to be a coveted trade target.
