After Baker Mayfield took a public shot at the former Browns coach, franchise legend Joe Thomas stepped into the debate.
PublishedJanuary 21, 2026 4:00 PM EST•UpdatedJanuary 21, 2026 3:12 PM EST
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If you thought the drama between Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns was over, think again.
The long-simmering tension between Mayfield and former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski resurfaced this week, and now a franchise legend has chimed in.
After Stefanski landed a new head coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons (which will put him in Mayfield’s division, by the way), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback took a pointed shot at his former coach on social media. He was responding to a Falcons beat writer who cited the Browns’ “dumpster fire” quarterback situation and the “failed” experiments with Mayfield and Deshaun Watson.
“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.”
Baker Mayfield talks with head coach Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns during the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on January 3, 2022.
(Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
That didn’t sit well with Browns legendary former left tackle Joe Thomas. So, he fired back on X with a blunt response of his own.
“I could be wrong…but I’ve heard that communication is a 2-way street and there were no laws against you (Baker) sending Stefanski a text or calling him after you got traded,” Thomas wrote.
The exchange reopened old wounds from a messy breakup that has followed Mayfield since Cleveland traded him to the Carolina Panthers in 2022. That was after the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson from Houston.
While it’s still unclear exactly when the relationship between Mayfield and Stefanski fell apart, reporting at the time painted a picture of growing distrust during their final season together. In a 2022 piece, “The Athletic’s” Jason Lloyd wrote: “It worked well for a while, but the relationship soured like so many others involving Mayfield. By the time it was over, there was a lack of trust on both sides.”
Lloyd added that by the end of the 2021 season, “it was clear Stefanski had lost faith in his quarterback,” while Mayfield “lost confidence in himself and what he was seeing.”
Mayfield himself made it clear just how fractured things had become when he requested a trade.
“It’s in the mutual interest of both sides for us to move on,” Mayfield said at the time. “The relationship is too far gone to mend.”
Baker Mayfield was drafted No. 1 overall by the Browns in 2018.
(Getty Images)
Thomas’ take has sparked plenty of debate, but I’m personally leaning Team Baker on this one.
If you get fired from your job, are you texting your old boss who talked sh*t about you to thank him for all the good times? Probably not.
Still, if Mayfield wanted a conversation, nothing was stopping him from initiating it.
Since leaving Cleveland and bouncing briefly from Carolina to Los Angeles, Mayfield has rebuilt his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading the franchise to playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024. Stefanski, meanwhile, is now starting fresh in Atlanta.
If anything, there will be some spicy storylines in the NFC South next season.
