Kevin Stefanski won’t be announced as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons until next week, but it appears that things are already getting spicy in the NFC South.
Stefanski’s new division home is the same one former quarterback Baker Mayfield resides with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team he’s led since 2023 and enjoyed some success, leading them to the division title that year and 2024 before losing out on the title the last weekend of the 2025 NFL regular season.
Before he did all of that, however, Mayfield was the No. 1 overall selection of the Cleveland Browns in 2018 by then general manager John Dorsey.
That status did translate into a long tenure. Mayfield, who’s freely admitted through the years that he didn’t possess the maturity to lead a team in the straits the Browns were, led the team to the playoffs in the NFL’s Covid year helping Stefanski earn one of his two coach of the year awards in 2020. The team fell short the following year due to a host of issues, including some strife and Mayfield’s injured shoulder.
The Browns, in a deal that still haunts them, went shopping for what they thought was a better alternative in Deshaun Watson. Everyone knows how that turned out by now with Stefanski and Paul DePodesta, two of the team’s three think partners gone – DePodesta by his own volition – and general manager Andrew Berry still leading the team.
D. Orlando Ledbetter, Falcons beat writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution characterized the Stefanski’s situation in Cleveland on X: “Falcons’ Kevin Stefanski had a dumpster fire at quarterback in Cleveland — Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson failed, which started a chain reaction to 11 other starters. QB Shedeur Sanders closed out last season with seven starts.”
That statement was enough to hit Mayfield’s social media radar, and he responded: “Failed is quite the reach pal. Still waiting on a text/call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can’t wait to see you twice a year, Coach.”
Mayfield may have grown, but it’s quite apparent he possesses a long memory which could make Falcons-Buccaneers matchups next season must-see TV.
George M. Thomas covers a myriad of things including sports and pop culture, but mostly sports, he thinks, for the Beacon Journal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ex-Browns QB Baker Mayfield tweets message to ex-coach Kevin Stefanski
