It’s safe to say Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield isn’t looking back longingly on his time with the Cleveland Browns.
Mayfield, 30, took a blatant shot at the Browns organization and former head coach Kevin Stefanski, who was hired as the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday, January 17, after a Falcons reporter argued Mayfield “failed” in Cleveland.
“Failed is quite the reach pal,” Mayfield wrote in a post via X on Tuesday, January 20. “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.”
With his new job in Atlanta, Stefanski, now coaches in the NFC South, the same division as Mayfield’s Buccaneers.
Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield and Wife Emily’s Ups and Downs
The Browns drafted Mayfield No. 1 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft and he played in Cleveland until 2021 when the team signed quarterback DeShaun Watson. In response, Mayfield requested a trade.
“#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,” Falcons writer D. Orlando Ledbetter wrote in the original post. “QB Shedeur Sanders closed out last season with seven starts.”
Mayfield wasn’t the only one to find the post misleading. Readers added the dreaded community note underneath, which read, “Under Stefanski (2020-2025), the Browns had 13 starting QBs. Baker Mayfield, however, led them to an 11-5 record in 2020, their first playoff berth since 2002 and win since 1994. He played through a significant shoulder injury in 2021.”
The apparent beef between Mayfield and Stefanski is nothing new. Their relationship publicly broke down during the quarterback’s last season in Cleveland as the Browns struggled to an 8-9 record.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and Wife Emily Welcome 1st Baby: See 1st Photo
“These two had major beef in 2021. And it kind of was bubbling under the surface most of the season,” Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot explained on the Tuesday episode of the “Orange and Brown Talk” podcast. “But it really came to a head finally, ultimately, in the second-to-last game of the season when Baker was sacked nine times and he called Kevin out for not providing James Hudson III, the backup right tackle who played in place of Jack Conklin that game, for not providing him with any chipping help.”
After Cleveland dealt Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers in 2022, the quarterback played just six games before requesting his release. He caught on with the Los Angeles Rams to end the 2022 season, then joined the Buccaneers in January 2023.
Never one to hold his tongue, Mayfield has ruffled feathers in Tampa as well. In September 2024, he discussed the difference in atmosphere between that season and the last, when quarterback Tom Brady was with the team.
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there,” he said in an appearance on the “Casa de Klub” podcast. “Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out. They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football a little bit for guys who weren’t having as much fun. And just continue to raise the competition level. … As a player, you really can’t ask for much more than that.”
Brady, 48, fired back while broadcasting a Buccaneers game later that month.
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” he said. “There was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I was going to go to Disneyland with my kids.”
