The Washington Commanders parted ways with tight ends coach Ben Steele on Monday morning, cutting ties with him on the eve of training camp and leaving a key coaching job unsettled just as practices are about to begin.
The team announced the move on its official X account and said, “We are parting ways with tight ends coach Ben Steele,” adding, “The team will have no further comment at this time.” By the time that post went live, Steele’s biography had already been removed from the team’s official website.
The timing is what makes this stand out. Steele had been hired on March 2 after spending the previous three seasons as the tight ends coach for the Arizona Cardinals, and his exit lands only two days before camp begins. That makes the change unusually late for a coaching shuffle, especially with no explanation attached.
Steele arrived with a track record that looked solid on paper. Under his guidance, Trey McBride became a two-time Pro Bowler in 2024 and 2025 and earned his first NFL All-Pro nod in 2025. McBride also set the NFL single-season receptions record for tight ends with 126 catches for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns, numbers that framed Steele’s work as the sort of resume the Commanders appeared to want when they hired him.
Instead, the team moved quickly and said nothing more. ’s John Keim described it on X as “an unusual move two days before camp begins,” and that is the heart of the story: a coaching change made just before training camp, with no public reason given and no announced replacement to carry the tight ends room forward. For Steele, the silence is as notable as the firing itself.
Steele’s own background runs through NFL and NFL Europe, where he played six seasons from 2001 to 2006 for six different NFL teams and the Frankfurt Galaxy. That experience helped shape a coach who was brought in to steady a position group, only to be shown the door before the first camp practice could even test the plan.
