Teddy Bridgewater’s signing with the Detroit Lions on Thursday didn’t come as any surprise to Hendon Hooker.

The Lions’ backup quarterback knew Bridgewater was planning to return to the team way back before training camp.

“I figured Teddy was going to come back here this season,” Hooker said Thursday. “I didn’t know when. I knew when his season was over he was going to come back. I mean, we’ve been talking about it since the summer.”

The Lions signed Bridgewater as insurance ahead of the playoffs in a move Lions coach Dan Campbell insisted was no reflection of their faith in Hooker as a backup.

Hooker took second-string quarterback reps in practice Thursday and has played as the No. 2 quarterback behind Jared Goff all season. In three games of mop-up duty, he’s completed 6 of 9 passes for 62 yards.

But as a third-round pick in 2023 who missed most of his rookie season while rehabbing from a college knee injury, that’s the extent of Hooker’s NFL experience. Bridgewater, meanwhile, is a 10-year vet who’s 33-32 as a starter. He played for the Lions last season, knows coordinator Ben Johnson’s offense and completed 70.8% of his passes in his lone playoff start in 2015.

“I understand what it looks like,” Campbell said. “But it’s just a different world that we’re getting ready to walk into, and I just – we felt like this was the right thing to do, especially with somebody that I have a tremendous amount of trust with and for. He understands our offense well.

“The guys know him well, the coaches know him well, and he brings a certain level of comfort to us.”

Campbell said both Hooker and Bridgewater could play if something happens that makes Goff unavailable in the playoffs. With three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster, the Lions can designate either Hooker or Bridgewater as their emergency quarterback without having him count against their gameday roster.

The Lions (13-2) can lock up the NFC North title and No. 1 seed in the playoffs with a win Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers and a Minnesota Vikings loss Sunday to the Green Bay Packers. If the Vikings (13-2) win Sunday, next week’s Lions-Vikings game will be for the division title.

“Doesn’t mean we’re disappointed in Hooker,” Campbell said. “That’s not what this means, it just means this gives us somebody that’s played a lot in the NFL, we’re getting ready for the playoffs. And so, it’ll be good to get him back in the fold with us.”

Bridgewater told the Free Press last December he was retiring from the NFL to coach high school football at his alma matter, Miami Northwestern. After he led the school to a Florida state championship, he told NFL Network he planned to come out of retirement and re-sign with a playoff contender.

Hooker spent part of the offseason working out with Bridgewater and Lions receivers Jameson Williams and Maurice Alexander. He and Bridgewater, who declined interview requests Thursday, remained in close contact during the season.

“Definitely miss my guy just being in the room and leaning on him whenever Jared is doing his own thing,” Hooker said. “Still asking questions. He’s still my mentor at the end of the day, so any questions I have about life or this game of football or being a pro always seem to lean on Teddy.”

Along with being insurance for Goff, Campbell said he expects Bridgewater to help the Lions’ first-team defense prepare for some of the quarterbacks it will face in the playoffs once “he gets his sea legs back under him.’ Until then, Bridgewater will spend his time shaking off whatever rust he acquired sitting out the season and getting reacclimated to the building.

“He’s been in 80-degree weather this whole time so of course he gets out there and he’s like, ‘Man, I can’t feel my toes,'” Hooker said. “Welcome back. So just jokes about that. And then just talk about the playbook and things that we got into this year that he’s really liked and had questions about.”

Hooker said Campbell and Lions general manager Brad Holmes reassured him he still has a role on offense. And having Bridgewater back by his side, Hooker said, will only help him improve as a quarterback.

“Throughout all my years of playing football, I’ve always been in a quarterback competition,” Hooker said. “So it’s just the nature of the business. Just bring your game.”