Baker Mayfield caused quite the stir on social media on Tuesday when he called out his former Head Coach Kevin Stefanski on X.

It all started with an Atlanta Falcons beat writer, D. Orlando Ledbetter, writing an article about Stefanski’s quarterback situation in Cleveland. In his post, Ledbetter claimed that Mayfield “failed” in Cleveland, despite leading them to an 11-5 record and their first playoff win of the 21st century.

This obviously didn’t sit well with Mayfield, who responded to his post, saying that he failed is a reach, and he’s still waiting for Stefanski to call or text him after shipping him away “like a piece of garbage.”

Since Mayfield was traded from the Cleveland Browns, he’s gone on to become the starter in Tampa Bay and lead them to the playoffs in two of their first three seasons. Is it time for Mayfield to get over how things went in Cleveland? Or are his feelings justified?

Baker Mayfield’s Final Years in Cleveland

Before we get into anything else, let’s dive into how Mayfield’s time in Cleveland ended.

In 2020, Mayfield took a massive leap, throwing for 3,563 yards and 26 touchdowns to eight interceptions and leading the Browns to an 11-5 record. In the Wild Card Round, Mayfield tossed three touchdowns and helped the Browns score 48 points in their first playoff win since 1994. He was a hero in Cleveland, but he quickly went from hero to zero.

In 2021, Mayfield was nowhere near as good as he was the previous year, throwing for 3,010 yards and 17 touchdowns to 13 picks, but he was playing through a significant shoulder injury. The Browns won eight games that year, and in the offseason, they decided to swing big and trade for Deshaun Watson, who was just accused of sexual assault by over 20 different women.

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The Browns would trade Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers later that offseason, and it’s easy to see why he felt betrayed. He was a year removed from winning the franchise’s first playoff game in over 25 years, and just battled through a torn labrum for almost the entire year. Instead of giving him the offseason to heal and letting him have another run at the playoffs in 2022, they shipped him away to Carolina, and Stefanski didn’t even give him so much as an explanation for the move.

Mayfield’s Resurgence

Mayfield, who was still recovering from his shoulder injury, didn’t have the greatest time in Carolina in 2022. He played in seven games, completing under 60 percent of his passes for 1,313 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions. Mayfield was quickly traded to the Los Angeles Rams midseason after Matthew Stafford was injured, and he stepped in with just a couple of days notice and beat the Raiders in his first game. He played in five games for the Rams that year, but they let him walk in free agency that offseason.

After 2022, it didn’t look like Mayfield would get a starting job again. But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took a shot on him, and it’s paid off big time. In 2023, he threw for 4,000+ yards and 28 touchdowns while leading Tampa to the Divisional Round. Then, in 2024, he had the best season of his career, totaling 4,500+ passing yards and 41 passing touchdowns while leading Tampa to yet another NFC South title.

2025 started off great for Mayfield, who looked like the MVP frontrunner for the first five weeks of the season. Unfortunately, Mayfield got a bit banged up and he lost pretty much his entire offense for most of the season, and the Bucs ended up missing the postseason entirely.

Still, Mayfield has completely revitalized his career since the Browns ditched him for Deshaun Watson. He has obviously been the big winner of their divorce, so should he still be angry at Stefanski?

Are Baker’s Feelings Justified?

Even though Mayfield is much better off in Tampa, while the Browns have struggled to find a capable quarterback since shipping him off, I believe his feelings towards the Browns and Stefanski are more than justified.

Just put yourself in Mayfield’s shoes for a minute. He did what no other quarterback in the last 25 years could do. He brought the Browns to the playoffs and WON a game. Half of the Browns fans in the world at that time had never seen their team win a playoff game, and Mayfield delivered that by putting the team on his back in the Wild Card Round.

Then, the following season, Mayfield played through a torn labrum, which is an extremely significant injury by the way, for pretty much the entire season. He still led the Browns to eight wins, which was more than they’d had in any of the 12 seasons before 2021, and hardly missed the playoffs.

Despite all that he’d done for the Browns in the previous two seasons, they traded him to Carolina, an absolute dumpster fire, after adding Deshaun Watson, who had 20+ sexual assault allegations. I don’t know about you, but I’d be pissed off too.

Long story short, yes, I believe his feelings are justified. I don’t know if posting about it on X four years later was the right move, but if I were him, I’d certainly be excited to play Stefanski twice a year.