00:00The Commanders, 35 minutes ago, put out a tweet.
00:03We are parting ways with tight end coach Ben Steele.
00:07The team will have no further comment at this time.
00:10Subsequently, it doesn't take the internet long.
00:12As soon as I saw that, I knew it wasn't good news.
00:15You're not leaving the day before camp if it's good news.
00:19Totally.
00:20And it didn't take long.
00:22I think a bunch of people posted it.
00:25I know Derek Cheston.
00:27You know Derek.
00:27He was able to find it.
00:28So, Nicky Javala was able to track it down.
00:33According to Virginia court records, Steele was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on June 7th.
00:38He faces additional charges for refusing a blood and breath test and obstructing or resisting an officer without force.
00:46What I know is at mini camp, Wes Welker was coaching tight ends.
00:51And it was kind of just glossed over.
00:53And I don't know that we thought much about of it at the time because it was mid-June mini
00:58camp.
00:58Maybe the guy had a family situation, whatever.
01:01Now we know the situation.
01:04This one's interesting because I think there's plenty of times in the NFL where an organization will ride something out
01:12with their guy.
01:13And a lot of times you hear...
01:14It was June 6th.
01:15They've been riding it out.
01:16Now they may have more information.
01:18True.
01:18And you hear, like, oh, we're going to let the legal process play out.
01:21Like, technically, the NFL, like the league policy is any sort of suspensions or fines for legal issues.
01:29They come at the conclusion of the legal process.
01:32Yeah.
01:32Yeah.
01:32So this is obviously...
01:33Unless it's something crazy, they just suspend you off the bat.
01:35They can put you on the commissioner list.
01:37You're right.
01:37This is...
01:38It's interesting that they've decided to part ways.
01:42I don't know what happened to merge because this happened in June.
01:46It's now July 27th and two days before camp.
01:51Now, Wes Welker coached them, tight ends group, during mini camp.
01:55I won't be shocked if he has some role.
01:57Dan Quinn will address the media tomorrow, 6 p.m., out in Ashburn.
02:01I don't think he really wanted to address this.
02:03Well, they're doing it right the day before.
02:06DQ's...
02:07Yeah.
02:08If I had to guess, he at least...
02:10Hey, coach, who's your tight ends coach?
02:11He at least has to answer that because we're going to see somebody out there Wednesday morning.
02:15Totally.
02:16But if Wes was doing it during mini camps and all, I think they had some semblance of what was
02:25going to happen.
02:25And they probably got a plan already with this one.
02:29Yeah.
02:29Well, I think they've had to.
02:31I'm surprised...
02:32You just wonder if something happened because he was on administrative leave during mini camp.
02:37I spoke with a source close to the situation.
02:38You see why now?
02:40Right.
02:40But if you're going to do administrative leave then, I'm speculating now, which I wouldn't do in a shooting,
02:46but a coach getting fired is more my lane.
02:48If you're on administrative leave and then the two days before camp, you're fired,
02:55I wonder if they didn't find something else out during that time period.
02:58More information.
02:59Like you see some of the stuff that you're talking about on this about resisting arrest without force and this,
03:05that, and the other.
03:06What else was there?
03:07And did he disclose everything?
03:09And do you want this to drag into camp?
03:13What if the legal process, say he's got, I don't, say you got a hearing in 10 days and then
03:19it becomes a thing.
03:20And then it's like, oh, you're in the middle of training camp.
03:23Your tight end coach is going to court.
03:24You know what I mean?
03:25Like maybe you just want to have some finality and move forward.
03:29I also think the organization is trying to, it's the NFL.
03:33There's always going to be stuff.
03:35Yeah.
03:35But I think they try to run as buttoned up of an organization as they can.
03:39And this is a, I don't know what happened with this situation and certainly, you know, innocent until proven guilty.
03:47But for a young coach getting his first crack at running his own tight end room, this is a blow
03:53to his coaching career.
03:54I don't know that much.
03:55It is.
03:56And I think, I think you were pretty dismissive of it.
03:59This is a lot to happen two days before camp opens with a first time coordinator.
04:05Like everybody has been bumped up a layer here.
04:07Yeah.
04:08And now all of a sudden you've got a fairly big change on your staff on the eve of training
04:14camp opening.
04:15Yeah.
04:16But see, the thing about it is they, like you're saying Wes was coaching during minicamp.
04:23I think David Rye, who was the tight ends coach, still have some influence on what's happening there.
04:29And the good, and I think this is what they're trying to do, the good franchises, they can, they take
04:36a hit and keep moving.
04:38They don't always have to go into, like, you know, stress mode or whatever, things like that.
04:44And I believe that this is the same thing.
04:47There was already a plan if he was already coaching it, if Wes was coaching it.
04:51David Rye is still, I mean, Rye is still there.
04:53So I don't suspect it to be that big of a deal.
04:56So, just like, you know, when it comes down to a new coordinator, that's just like changing up and bringing
05:02in a brand new one.
05:03If this guy first time doing it, yes, you're going to have stumbles along the way.
05:07But football is a thing where everybody has been doing it a long time.
05:11You can figure this thing out.
05:13I just don't look at everything that happens as, whoa, wow, wow.
05:18It may be that, but nine times out of ten it won't be.
05:21Yeah, I think it's, like, one of the biggest questions coming into this camp is, are these dudes ready?
05:28You know what I mean?
05:28Like, is Blau going to be the guy?
05:30I'm pretty confident.
05:31I'm a Blau leaver.
05:32But, like, that is a.
05:34Kind of cool that, though, Blau leaver.
05:36That is a big leap for him to make from assistant's quarterback coach to offense coordinator in a year.
05:41And then you just throw another curveball at it.
05:43But that's life, too.
05:45Life is how you handle the curveballs.
05:48But, I mean, geez, what a morning.
05:51Good morning, Brian.
05:52How do you do?
05:53I'm fantastic.
05:53We've got to do our normal stuff.
05:55I haven't seen you in a couple days.
05:56I am fantastic.
06:00Man, that was a lot happened.
06:02So, the highlight of that is I get my phone, and then I get a call, and I'm like, yo,
06:08Stallion, we've got to change the lineup because they just fired the tight ends coach.
06:11I think he got a DUI.
06:13And Stallion and I talk about it for a second, and Jeff's sitting there.
06:16And then, like, five minutes later, Jeff's like, yo, did you see they fired Ben Steele?
06:20So, that was kind of the highlight of all this tricks.
06:23No, no, hold up.
06:24You skipped over the disclaimer, I said.
06:27I said, don't judge me because I wasn't paying attention to y'all conversation.
06:31That's kind of self-incriminating there, Jeff.
06:34That's kind of my point, is that you weren't paying attention.
06:38It was pregame.
06:39I mean, so, the B enemy thing, we just hope everybody's okay.
06:49Yes, definitely, definitely.
06:50That's bad.
06:52In all your years in the NFL, you saw lots of crazy stuff.
06:56Like, stories I've heard from locker rooms and players using that as their apartment because they get thrown out of
07:01their own homes.
07:01Like, there's crazy things happen in pro sports.
07:05Did you ever have a coach get canned the day before Campo?
07:09Not the day before, but I've had some get canned, and I have some deal with issues, and I think
07:15you get past it.
07:16You know, like, this is where veteran leadership, both on the staff and on the team, comes into play.
07:25You know what I mean?
07:26I mean, it was tons of stuff happening back when I first got here.
07:32You know, I know everybody always thinks Coach Gibb ran the team.
07:35He's always just ran perfectly.
07:38It was a lot of stuff going on.
07:39Hell, I was a part of some of the stuff that happened.
07:41You know what I mean?
07:42But you get past it.
07:43Shout out to the Hall of Famer, David Aldridge.
07:46DA just texted us.
07:50I believe this is DA texted us.
07:52Yeah.
07:53It's my computer, so I only get phone numbers and not names, but I believe it's DA texted us.
07:58Before we make too big a deal out of this tight end coach thing, it was only four years ago.
08:05Yeah.
08:06August 9th, 2022, the Washington Commanders fired defensive line coach Sam Mills on Tuesday with coach Ron Rivera citing a
08:13difference of philosophy.
08:14I can tell you what the difference was.
08:16The players hated him, and they were screaming at each other every day.
08:19And it just got to a point where it could not work.
08:23That did just happen.
08:25That was also a pretty dysfunctional team.
08:27So I don't know.
08:29There's no way to paint Ben Steele getting canned the day before camp as a good thing.
08:34It's not.
08:35It's an issue.
08:36It's a distraction.
08:37It's a curveball, whatever.
08:38But it is not going to make or break a season.
08:40Today's the 27th.
08:41Yeah.
08:42The rookies reported 24th.
08:43Yeah.
08:43Somebody been coaching the damn rookie tight ends.
08:47Right.
08:49So for me, it's not like me dismissing it.
08:54It's just that I have lived a lot of this stuff, and I just don't get crazy over everything until
08:59it shows.
09:00The thing you say, don't get pre-mad, I'm not going to get pre-upset.
09:04Sure.
09:05You know what I'm saying?
09:06I'm not going to pre-worry.
09:08Yeah, I think it's not good news, but I think it's not a massive deal that we should be concerned.
09:19There's no way Jaden Daniels will throw for 4,000 yards because the tight ends coach got fired.
09:23It is interesting that when they had Ertz, he was such a kind of veteran of the situation, and now
09:34you've got Chig, who's going into his fifth season.
09:38You've got Sennett going into a third.
09:41Hell, Bates is probably the vet in that room.
09:43Bates was drafted in 20.
09:46Bates was a Ron draft pick, I think.
09:51You know my boy Carberry, who I'm close with, who's the Bucs offensive line coach, right?
09:57He's a big fella, and people just assume he played offensive line.
10:01He was a D-lineman at Ohio University and is now highly regarded among the best offensive line coaches in
10:08the NFL.
10:09You don't have to be a former tight end.
10:11They don't have to go call up Logan Thomas to see if he's available to start coaching.
10:17Maybe that would work out.
10:18I don't know.
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