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The Washington Commanders parted ways with tight ends coach Ben Steele on Monday, two days before the first practice of training camp. The announcement was bare-bones — “no further comment at this time” — and the underlying reason filled in quickly.
Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic reported that Steele was dismissed for violating team policy. Per Virginia court records, he was arrested on June 7 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. He faces two additional charges: refusing a blood or breath test and obstructing or resisting an officer without force.
Steele notified the Commanders of the arrest. The team informed the NFL office and placed him on paid leave. During minicamp, offensive assistant Wes Welker handled tight ends duties in Steele’s absence. Head coach Dan Quinn is expected to name a replacement Tuesday, when the full squad reports to camp.
The timeline is awkward. Washington hired Steele on Feb. 27 to replace David Raih, who was promoted to offensive passing-game coordinator under new offensive coordinator David Blough. Steele’s selling point was his work in Arizona, where he coached Trey McBride for three seasons. McBride led all NFL tight ends in receptions (126) and receiving yards (1,239) in 2024 — the first tight end in league history with back-to-back 100-catch seasons. That track record was the reason general manager Adam Peters brought Steele in to develop a position group that includes veteran Zach Ertz and 2024 second-round pick Ben Sinnott.
Instead, Steele lasted five months on the job and never coached a training camp practice.
Steele’s NFL coaching résumé spans a decade. He broke in with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive quality control assistant in 2014, rose to tight ends coach there in 2017, then moved through Atlanta (2020), Minnesota (2021), and Denver (2022) before his three-year run in Arizona. Before coaching, he spent time as a tight end with six NFL franchises plus the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe, though he only appeared in regular-season games with Green Bay — 17 contests, four catches, 42 yards.
The Commanders open camp Wednesday. Quinn will face questions about the dismissal at his first training camp press conference, and the replacement hire will be scrutinized for a staff that just lost a position coach credited with developing the most productive tight end in football. The on-field cost is manageable — Welker can bridge the gap — but losing a coach with Steele’s specific development credentials this late in the offseason leaves Blough’s offensive staff scrambling for continuity at a spot where Washington has invested real draft capital.
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Marcus Vaughn grew up in Philadelphia tallying box scores before he could reach the top shelf, a habit forged during a brief, statistically insignificant stint on a D-III basketball bench. Today, he wields expected points and win probability to dismantle locker-room cliches, politely pointing out whenever the narrative stubbornly refuses to align with the data.
