‘Piece of garbage’ – Baker Mayfield renews bitter rivalry with Falcons’ Kevin Stefanski

Baker Mayfield certainly hasn’t forgotten about how his time with the Cleveland Browns ended.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback unleashed a scathing attack on his former coach Kevin Stefanski following the news of his appointment as the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

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Falcons reporter D. Orlando Ledbetter published a piece for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday, claiming that Stefanski had endured a ‘dumpster fire at quarterback in Cleveland.’

He also wrote that both Mayfield and $230 million Deshaun Watson had ‘failed’ at quarterback under the coach.

But Mayfield didn’t take too kindly to Ledbetter’s words.

“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 posted to X (formerly Twitter) in response.

Mayfield had spent two seasons working under Stefanski in the 2020 and 2021 NFL seasons.

In their first year together, the Browns recorded their first winning season since 2002, going 11-5, and reached the Divisional Round of the playoffs after having defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card.

Stefanski, in his first year as an NFL head coach, also earned Coach of the Year honors.

However, the team regressed the following season, with the Browns’ 8-9 record ultimately not enough for them to reach the postseason with the former No. 1 overall pick battling with a shoulder injury that ultimately required surgery.

This also signaled the end of the Mayfield era in Cleveland, with him shipped off to the Carolina Panthers in 2022 as the Browns traded for Watson, which in hindsight, is now widely viewed as a huge mistake.

After going 1-5 as the starter in Carolina, the quarterback requested to be released, and found his way to the Los Angeles Rams where his career revival jumpstarted.

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After handed a chance to prove himself in a low-risk, one-year, $3 million deal with the Bucs in 2023, Mayfield used his opportunity to showcase why he was named a Heisman Trophy winner.

Having led Tampa Bay to the AFC South division title and earning his first Pro Bowl nod, Mayfield’s efforts were rewarded as he was handed a three-year, $100 million deal and cemented his status as their starting quarterback.

They would reach the playoffs again in 2024, but narrowly missed out in 2025 due to a three-way tiebreaker which went narrowly against them in the final game of the 2025 regular season.

For Stefanski in Cleveland, though, his team would record just one more winning season in the four that followed after Mayfield’s departure, which ultimately saw him fired at the end of the 2025 campaign after a 5-12 record.

With the quarterback and coach having not ended their time together on good terms, an AFC South rivalry has been renewed with Mayfield now set to come up against Stefanski’s Falcons twice a season.

And Mayfield is delighted by the chance to get to do his talking on the field, with two chances to inflict defeat on his former foe.

Falcons-Buccaneers matchups are now set to become must-see TV.

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