Feb. 27, 2026, 11:05 p.m. ET
The Washington Commanders were busy at the 2026 NFL combine in Indianapolis this week, but that didn’t stop them from finalizing their coaching staff. On Friday, the Commanders promoted tight ends coach David Raih to offensive passing game coordinator, where he will assist new offensive coordinator David Blough.
Raih replaces Brian Johnson, who departed last week for a role on Sean McVay’s staff with the Los Angeles Rams. Johnson’s departure, coupled with Raih’s promotion, opened a spot on Washington’s staff. Who would take over as tight ends coach?
On Friday, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network revealed that Washington was hiring Ben Steele as its new tight ends coach. Steele, 47, comes to the Commanders after spending the past three seasons with the Arizona Cardinals as their tight ends coach. In Arizona, Steele oversaw the development of Trey McBridge, arguably the NFL’s best tight end.
Steele began his coaching career in 2008 as an offensive assistant at his alma mater, Mesa State. After bouncing around a few different colleges, Steele landed his first NFL coaching position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014 as an offensive quality control coach. After three years in that position, Steele was promoted to tight ends coach. In 2019, Steele was hired by the Atlanta Falcons, where Washington coach Dan Quinn was the head coach. After initially being hired as an offensive assistant, he was promoted to tight ends coach in 2020. Quinn was fired that season, and in 2021, Steele moved on to the Minnesota Vikings, where he served as an assistant offensive line coach. In 2022, Steele served as assistant offensive line coach for the Denver Broncos before landing with the Cardinals in 2023.
Steele was out of work after the Cardinals fired head coach Jonathan Gannon.
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