New Delhi, July 27 -- ASHBURN - Two days before his tight ends group reported for the first practice of Washington Commanders training camp, Ben Steele no longer had a job. The Commanders announced Sunday that they had parted ways with their tight ends coach for violating team policy, giving a minimal public explanation for a dismissal whose timing, on the eve of one of the most consequential stretches of an NFL season, was itself the sharpest signal available.

Virginia court records tell a portion of the story. On June 7, Steele was charged with driving while impaired in Loudoun County, a northern Virginia jurisdiction about 35 miles from the Commanders' Ashburn facility. Court documents listed additional charges of obstruction or resis...