Baltimore Capitals

2024 Baltimore Capitals Season
The Baltimore Capitals are a virtual American football team that plays in the Valiant Football League, where they play in the Atlantic Conference, and are a member of the Atlantic Conference Coastal Division.
Formed in 2014, the team was one of the first twelve teams in the United Football League. Since their inaugural season, the Baltimore Capitals have never appeared in the league's championship game, and have never won the Atlantic Conference Championship. However; the team did finish with the best record in the Atlantic Conference in the 2016 season with a 5-1 record.
Following the 2020 Season, Matt Barkley would be fired as the head coach of the Capitals, being replaced by University of New Mexico offensive coordinator Joe Dailey ahead of the 2021 season.
The team currently plays their home games at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, and are expected to relocate to Boston, Massachusetts following the 2024 UFL Season.
== History ==
=== The Matt Barkley era (2014-present) ===
In the 2014 UFL season, the Baltimore Capitals would find themselves in injury trouble, with every member of the offense other than halfback Glenn Coffee being injured at some point during the season. Despite the revolving door of injuries, the Capitals still managed to finish the season with a 3-3 record, just missing out of the post-season via a tie-breaker with the Chicago Steam. During the 2015 offseason, Capitals quarterback Jeff Garcia would retire from professional football, causing the Capitals to bring in former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel to run the offense for 2015. Despite the quarterback change, the Capitals would finish the 2015 season 3-3, mirroring the success of their previous year, also missing out on the playoffs via a tie-breaker alongside the Chicago Steam to both the Kansas City Core and the Connecticut Stampede.
In the 2016 offseason, Matt Cassel would be released from the team by head coach Matt Barkley, who would eventually sign JaMarcus Russel to play for the team at quarterback the following season, which was heavily ridiculed by the media and fans of the team alike. However; the move would prove to payoff well for the team and for Barkley, with the team finishing the 2016 season with a 5-1 record, earning the top seed in the Atlantic Conference, but the team's season would finish in disappointment by being upset by the eventual Atlantic Conference Champion New York Sentinels in the Atlantic Conference Championship Game. Despite the depressing finish to the team's season, Barkley and Capitals owner Linn Verett mutually decided upon extending JaMarcus Russel's contract for an addition two years, making Russel a Baltimore Capital through at least 2018. In the 2017 offseason, key wide receiver Antonio Callaway would leave the team for the expansion Orlando Crusaders, taking away a crucial piece of Barkley's offense, which would prove the following year as the Capitals would finish the 2017 season with a 3-3 record, earning a trip to the playoffs as the fifth and final seed in the Atlantic Conference, with the team's season ending after a Wild Card round loss to conference rivals the New York Sentinels, who were also the team that forced them out of the playoffs in a shocking upset the year prior. 
In the 2018 UFL offseason, the league would introduce divisions, slotting Baltimore into the newly created Atlantic Conference Coastal Division alongside the expansion Orlando Crusaders, and conference rivals the New York Sentinels and the Connecticut Stampede. During the 2018 UFL offseason, quarterback JaMarcus Russel would tear his ACL during training camp, forcing him to miss the entirety of the 2018 UFL season. The Capital would bring in then-Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky to replace Russel as the team's starting quarterback, which would prove to be an effort made redundant as Trubisky could not settle into the Capitals offense, thus taking away a major portion of the offense, which would lead to the Capitals finishing the 2018 UFL season with a league-worst 1-5 record. In the 2019 UFL offseason, JaMarcus Russel would break his collarbone in a motorcycle accident, requiring surgery and forcing Russel to miss the 2019 UFL season. In response, Barkley and Verett extended Russel's contract by another year with the missed playing time, making Russel a member of the Capitals through the 2020 UFL season. In response to Russel's injury, Barkley signed former Detroit Stingers quarterback Brett Rypien to lead the offense in a year in which the UFL would expand the season's game from six games a year per each team to sixteen. Baltimore would also sign Carl Hagger and Corey Dawson to coach as coordinators for the offense and defense respectively, as well as adding Anthony Hope as the team's new General Manager. Barkley's decision to sign Rypien would pay off moderately well, as the Capitals finished the 2019 UFL season with an 8-8 record, good enough for the fifth an final spot in the Atlantic Conference playoffs, as well as third in the Atlantic Conference Coastal Division, behind the 8-8 Orlando Crusaders and 9-7 Connecticut Stampede, but ahead of the 7-9 New York Sentinels. The Capitals would go onto lose to the eventual Atlantic Conference Champion Atlanta Bravehearts in the Wild Card round, ending the team's season in disappointment once again.