By the time new Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski became current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield’s head coach on the Cleveland Browns in 2020, he was Mayfield’s third head coach in 3 years since the moribund franchise took him No. 1 overall in the 2018 NFL draft.
That’s to say — a lot had happened before Stefanski ever was hired to replace Freddie Kitchens, who was fired after one season after he replaced Hue Jackson, who was the head coach when Mayfield was selected.
Now, the 2 seasons Mayfield and Stefanski spent together in Cleveland may have ended up planting the seed for one of the great NFL rivalries we will get in 2026.
The inciting incident was a tweet from Atlanta-Journal Constitution Falcons reporter D. Orlando Ledbetter.
“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,” Ledbetter wrote on Tuesday. “QB Shedeur Sanders closed out last season with seven starts.”
Enter Mayfield.
“Failed is quite the reach pal,” Mayfield wrote. “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 the NFC South seemingly totally up for grabs in 2026, these kind of beefs are the stuff football fans dream about. From Mayfield’s point of view, Stefanski tried to ruin his career.
Now, after Stefanski was hired by the Falcons shortly after he was fired by the Browns after 6 seasons, there might finally be a chance to return the favor.
Stefanski Behind Worst Trade in NFL History
After Mayfield went 11-5 in Stefanski’s first season in 2020 and Stefanski was named NFL Coach of the Year, Mayfield went 6-8 in an injury-filled 2021 season.
This relatively mild regression triggered a series of personnel moves that would lead to not only the worst trade in NFL history but the worst contract in NFL history.
Want to know why the Houston Texans have made the playoffs each of the last 3 seasons? It’s because Stefanski traded Cleveland’s 2022 first round pick, 2023 first round pick, 2024 first round pick, 2023 third round pick, 2022 fourth round pick and 2024 fourth round pick in exchange for quarterback Deshaun Watson in March 2022, then signed him to a fully guaranteed, 5-year, $230 million contract.
Stefanski proceeded to let Mayfield dangle in the wind for 4 months before trading him to the Carolina Panthers for a fifth round pick in July 2022 — football purgatory.
Mayfield eventually requested his release from the Panthers after going 1-5 as the starter then managed to revamp his career and reputation in a short time with the Los Angeles Rams at the end of the season.
That led to a 1-year, $3 million contract with the Buccaneers in 2023, which led to consecutive Pro Bowl seasons for Mayfield and a 3-year, $100 million contract before the 2024 season.
Watson began his tenure with the Browns by serving an 11-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. In his first 4 seasons in Cleveland he has missed 49 of a possible 68 regular season games, including the entire 2025 season with a torn Achilles tendon.
“The NFC South just got more spicy,” Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud wrote on X.
“Falcons-Bucs Round 1 just got a national TV audience,” NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero wrote on X.
‘Dumpster Fire’: Bucs QB Baker Mayfield Calls Out Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski