Todd Bowles Addresses Baker Mayfield-Kevin Stefanski Contention

Teams never want to see their head coach and starting quarterback clash with each other. The Bucs don’t have that by any means with Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield.

But when it comes to Mayfield and new Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski, well, that’s a different story.

We all remember what Mayfield said about Stefanski not long after he took the job in Atlanta.

These two worked together with the Browns when Stefanski was Mayfield’s head coach, but clearly there’s some harsh feelings – at least on Mayfield’s end. Stefanski has elected to not much spend time even addressing it or adding fuel to the fire. Rather he’s choosing to just focus on his new team.

Bucs’ Todd Bowles Reacts To The Baker Mayfield – Kevin Stefanski Beef

Todd Bowles wasn’t exactly ready to armor up for battle, but he showed support for Mayfield when the question was brought up. Bowles was interviewed by NFL reporter Josina Anderson where he was asked about this beef between his quarterback and another coach since they’ll be playing each other twice a season.

“It’s something that they have to figure out since we can’t have a boxing match where they get in the ring with each other and knock each other out,” Bowles said. “We’re going to back our guy, Baker. We look forward to backing him and I’m sure they’re going to back their coach as well. It’s a division game. It’s already going to be a hard fought game, so it just adds to it.”

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

Mayfield has always been a fiery type of player. It’s fueled him in several ways. What the team doesn’t want is for this anger to get overblown to where it takes away from his focus and the big task at hand, which is winning games – particularly divisional games against their opponents in the NFC South.

The Bucs split the series with the Falcons last season, though they should’ve swept it. Tampa Bay choked away a 14-point fourth quarter lead at home, losing the game, 29-28. It ended up being very costly as the Panthers, Bucs and Falcons all ended with an 8-9 record on the season, but Carolina won the division and made the postseason due to a tiebreaker.

Had Tampa Bay not blown that lead, the team would’ve won the division for a fifth straight season and the made the playoffs for a sixth straight year.

“Angry Baker” Has Fueled Mayfield Before

With that said, Baker Mayfield does play some of his best football when he’s a little more agitated, or at least talking trash. That example was put on display last season when Mayfield got into it with a Seahawks fans before the start of their game. The Bucs ended up winning, 38-35, in a shootout in Seattle where Mayfield went 29-of-33 for 379 yards and two touchdown passes.

Mayfield has said that he doesn’t need to be “pissed off” to play well. But a little motivation from a verbal joust has worked for him previously. Surely, there will be motivation not just from having Stefanski in the division, but also with the Bucs coming off of a down season and Mayfield being in a contract year with a hefty payday on the line in 2026.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

What Does Todd Bowles Want From His Team?

Besides anything Baker Mayfield related, Todd Bowles was asked at the NFL Annual Meeting by Josina Anderson what improvement he wants to see from his team heading into the 2026 season. To no surprise, that answer resided on fixing certain areas of the defense. That unit struggled heavily last season, but with new additions, plans are in place to provide some spark and energy heading into a new start.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Scott Reynolds/PR

“We’ve got to get better to controlling the line of scrimmage up front,” Bowles said. “Our interior guys have to dominate the line of scrimmage, and if we can do that, everything else flows off of that. But it starts with the defensive line.”

Check out Bowles’ entire interview with Anderson by clicking this link.