Earlier this month, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield generated headlines when he warned recently hired Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski that he couldn’t “wait to see [Stefanski] twice a year.”
During Stefanski’s introductory Falcons news conference on Tuesday, he was asked about Mayfield’s social media post.
Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski has “a ton of respect” for Baker Mayfield
“Baker’s somebody that I have a ton of respect for as a player and a person,” Stefanski said, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “I love rivalries in sports, and, obviously, Buccaneers-Falcons have a great rivalry. It’s something that I’m excited about. I would not get into the specifics of those type of things, other than to say I have a ton of respect for Baker as a player, as a person. That’s a great team with a great player.”
Back on Jan. 20, Mayfield suggested via X (formerly known as Twitter) that he was “still waiting on a text/call from” Stefanski after the former Cleveland Browns head coach allegedly had a role in that club trading Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers “like a piece of garbage” in the summer of 2022.
A subsequent report shared that Mayfield and Stefanski “had major beef” when they were with the Browns during the 2021 season. In March 2022, Cleveland acquired quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans and then handed him a fully guaranteed five-year, $230M contract. Watson has since become a disastrous flop for the Browns, while Mayfield guided Tampa Bay to division titles during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Mayfield started for the Panthers in a Week 1 loss to Cleveland back in September 2022. That’s the only time he faced a Stefanski-led Browns side up until the AFC North club fired the coach earlier this month.
Kevin Stefanski had Atlanta on his mind for some time?
Per Donnell Suggs of The Atlanta Voice, Stefanski added on Tuesday that “Atlanta is where I wanted to be.” As the Falcons’ head coach, Stefanski is on track to go up against Mayfield and the Buccaneers at least twice next season.
History suggests Mayfield will circle those dates on his calendar when the NFL schedule is released later this spring.