Earlier this month, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield generated headlines when he warned just lately employed Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski that he could not “wait to see [Stefanski] twice a 12 months.”
Throughout Stefanski’s introductory Falcons information convention on Tuesday, he was requested about Mayfield’s social media put up.
Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski has “a ton of respect” for Baker Mayfield
“Baker’s any person that I’ve a ton of respect for as a participant and an individual,” Stefanski mentioned, per Josh Alper of Professional Soccer Speak. “I like rivalries in sports activities, and, clearly, Buccaneers-Falcons have an incredible rivalry. It’s one thing that I’m enthusiastic about. I might not get into the specifics of these sort of issues, apart from to say I’ve a ton of respect for Baker as a participant, as an individual. That’s an incredible crew with an incredible participant.”
Again on Jan. 20, Mayfield advised by way of X (previously often called Twitter) that he was “nonetheless ready on a textual content/name from” Stefanski after the previous Cleveland Browns head coach allegedly had a role in that membership buying and selling Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers “like a chunk of rubbish” in the summertime of 2022.
A subsequent report shared that Mayfield and Stefanski “had main beef” after they have been with the Browns through the 2021 season. In March 2022, Cleveland acquired quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans after which handed him a totally assured five-year, $230M contract. Watson has since grow to be a disastrous flop for the Browns, whereas Mayfield guided Tampa Bay to division titles through the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Mayfield started for the Panthers in a Week 1 loss to Cleveland again in September 2022. That is the only time he confronted a Stefanski-led Browns facet up till the AFC North membership fired the coach earlier this month.
Kevin Stefanski had Atlanta on his thoughts for a while?
Per Donnell Suggs of The Atlanta Voice, Stefanski added on Tuesday that “Atlanta is the place I wished to be.” Because the Falcons’ head coach, Stefanski is on monitor to go up towards Mayfield and the Buccaneers no less than twice subsequent season.
Historical past suggests Mayfield will circle these dates on his calendar when the NFL schedule is launched later this spring.
