Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield stirred up some drama when he suggested that Kevin Stefanski never reached out to him when the Cleveland Browns “shipped [me] off like a piece of garbage” earlier in his career.
But Mayfield is downplaying any potential feud with the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
“There’s stuff there, but it’s not like its beef,” he said during a Super Bowl LX radio row interview with Sports Illustrated (h/t Grant Gordon of NFL.com). “We’ve worked together, anytime you know somebody, you want to beat them whether it’s a good or bad relationship.”
Stefanski also chose diplomacy.
“Baker’s somebody that I have a ton of respect for as a player and a person,” he told reporters in late January. “I love rivalries in sports and obviously Buccaneers-Falcons have a great rivalry. It’s something that I’m excited about, but 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.”
Still, expect a little extra spice when the Bucs and Falcons face each other in the 2026 season.