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John Keim
The Washington Commanders finalized their coaching staff by hiring the grandson of the late legendary NFL coach and broadcaster John Madden.
Jesse Madden will serve as the Commanders’ offensive quality control coach in his first NFL job. Madden spent the previous four years as a backup at Michigan, first as a quarterback and then as a defensive back.
John Madden coached the Oakland Raiders to a win in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., where Michigan beat Alabama in a semifinal playoff game in 2024. John Madden later became famous for broadcasting, beer commercials and then for a video game named after him.
And, yes, his grandson plays Madden. Jesse Madden told the Los Angeles Times that he was playing the game with his teammates when the reporter called him a few days before the Wolverines played Washington in the National Championship in 2024.
“For me, it’s not crazy because it’s all I’ve known my whole life,” Madden told the newspaper.
Madden once told the Bay Area News Group that he grew up studying his grandfather’s Raiders teams. During the pandemic in the spring of his junior year in high school, with a new coach and no formal practices allowed, the paper reported Jesse Madden learned 1,600 plays and organized informal workouts.
At the time, his grandfather told the newspaper, “His work ethic is amazing. Even with nothing going on because of COVID, he practiced every day like he was going to play.”
His grandfather got to see him play in one game at Michigan, a televised 2021 win over Northern Illinois, three months before he died on Dec. 28, 2021.
Washington also hired Brian Schneider as an assistant special teams coach. He spent 2022-23 in charge of San Francisco’s special teams, a position he held in Seattle from 2010 to 2020.