The Washington Commanders cut ties with tight ends coach Ben Steele just days before training camp after a drunk-driving arrest last month that also included charges of resisting an officer and refusing a breath test.
The Commanders announced Monday they were "parting ways" with Steele, ending his tenure before he ever coached a regular-season game for the franchise. The team confirmed the move in a brief statement posted to X and added, "The team will have no further comment at this time."
Steele had joined Dan Quinn's staff in February after three seasons coaching tight ends for the Arizona Cardinals. His firing, Fox News Digital reported, came after the organization placed him on administrative leave once it learned of the arrest. Virginia court records show Steele faces charges beyond the DWI itself: refusing a blood or breath test, obstructing or resisting an officer without force, and changing course without signaling.
The New York Post reported Steele was ultimately fired for violating team policy. Training camp opens Wednesday, and the Commanders expect to name his replacement on Tuesday.
Steele spent more than a decade building a coaching career across the league. He broke into the NFL as a player, suiting up for the Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans from 2004 to 2006 after camp stints with the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, and Minnesota Vikings.
He moved to the sideline in 2014, joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive quality control coach. By 2017 he had earned a promotion to tight ends coach in Tampa Bay. Stops with the Atlanta Falcons in 2019 and 2020, the Minnesota Vikings in 2021, and the Denver Broncos in 2022 followed before he landed the tight ends job in Arizona.
His Cardinals tenure produced results. Tight end Trey McBride, a Colorado State product, racked up two Pro Bowl selections and at least 1,100 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons under Steele's coaching. McBride smashed his career high in 2025 with 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns, earning first-team All-Pro honors.
That track record made Steele an appealing hire for a Commanders franchise looking to rebuild its passing game around quarterback Jayden Daniels. None of it mattered once the DWI arrest surfaced.
After placing Steele on administrative leave, the Commanders turned to an unlikely interim solution. Former New England Patriots and Denver Broncos receiver Wes Welker stepped in as tight ends coach during the team's minicamp this offseason. Whether Welker is a candidate for the permanent job remains unclear.
Washington's tight end room features John Bates and Ben Sinnott, who both played the position for the Commanders last season, along with offseason addition Chig Okonkwo. The group will need a new position coach in place by Wednesday's camp opener.
The coaching shakeup comes at a fragile moment. Washington went 12-5 in 2024 and reached the NFC Championship Game, powered by Daniels's Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign. But the most recent season cratered to 5-12 after Daniels played just seven games because of injury.
A franchise trying to prove last year's collapse was a fluke now heads into camp short a position coach, not because of a football decision, but because of an off-field incident that forced the organization's hand. The Commanders acted quickly once the facts reached them, placing Steele on leave and then firing him outright. That part, at least, is how accountability is supposed to work.
Teams that tolerate off-field recklessness from their own staff lose the standing to demand discipline from their players, and the Commanders, to their credit, did not wait around to find out.
