The Washington Commanders have fired tight ends coach Ben Steele following a June arrest in which he was charged for driving while intoxicated.
“We are parting ways with tight ends coach Ben Steele,” the Commanders wrote in a statement shared via X on Monday, July 27. “The team will have no further comment at this time.”
Steele, 48, was pulled over in the early morning hours of June 7, near the Commanders’ facility, for allegedly “changing course after a signal,” according to court documents obtained by The Athletic.
The Commanders were in the midst of spring practices at the time, and following Steele’s arrest, he missed the team’s final two OTA workouts and minicamp the next week.
At the time of his arrest, Steele reportedly refused a breathalyzer test at the scene, but a blood test later showed that he had a 0.214 blood alcohol content, more than 2.5 times the legal limit.
The officer who stopped him reported that Steele allegedly had “glassy/red eyes, slurred speech, confused speech” and had a “strong and distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage.” Steele then allegedly refused to exit his vehicle when asked multiple times and when the officer entered the car to attempt to remove him, Steele “pulled back” against the officer, according to the court documents.
In addition to his DWI charge, Steele was also charged with refusing a breath test and obstructing or resisting an officer without force.
Steele was later released from custody and is scheduled to appear in Loudoun County General District Court on August 13.
The Commanders placed Steele on leave after learning of his arrest, according to The Athletic, and subsequently fired him for a violation of team policy. His bio on the Commanders’ website has already been removed and offensive assistant Wes Welker has been coaching the team’s tight ends while Steele was on leave.
This would have been Steele’s first season on the Commanders’ staff after he spent three years in the same position with the Arizona Cardinals. He has been in the NFL coaching ranks since 2014, and before that spent five years as an assistant and positions coach at the college level.
After going undrafted in the 2001 NFL Draft, Steele spent time with six NFL teams as a tight end between 2001 and 2006, but only appeared in regular season games for the Green Bay Packers, where he spent 2004 and 2005.
Washington opens training camp on Wednesday, July 29, and head coach Dan Quinn is expected to announce Steele’s replacement before then, according to CBS Sports.
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