Vancouver Outlaws

2024 Vancouver Outlaws Season
The Vancouver Outlaws are a virtual American football team that plays in the Valiant Football League, and they play in the Pacific Conference as a member of the Pacific Conference Coastal Division. The team was founded as one of the first four expansion franchises in the UFL in 2017. Since joining the league in 2017, the Outlaws have been seen as having the most devoted fan base of any team in the league, with fans of the Outlaws referring to themselves as "The Outlaw Militia." As of 2024, the Vancouver Outlaws are the only VFL team in the league to be located and play their games in Canada.
Since joining the league, the Outlaws have never won the United Cup or the PCF Championship, but won the PC Coastal Division Championship twice, and appeared in the PCF Championship in 2023.
The team was coached by former Minnesota Vikings legend Fran Tarkenton from their inception in 2017 until 2019, where he earned a 11-17 record over his three years coaching the Outlaws. Following the 2019 UFL Season, the team fired Frank Tarkenton, and hired former West Georgia head coach Will Hall to serve as the team's head coach from 2020 until 2022. They'd proceed to hire Brian Bohannon to become the club's new coach.
The team currently plays their home games at BC Place, and has been coached by Brian Bohannon since 2022.
== History ==
=== Inception and Fran Tarkenton era (2017-2019) ===
During the 2017 UFL Expansion draft, the Vancouver Outlaws drafted former CFL quarterback Ricky Ray to control the Outlaws offense going into their inaugural season. Despite early hope for Ray to improve the lackluster Outlaws offense, Ray would find himself falling to an ACL injury during the first drive of the Outlaws' inaugural season, forcing backup quarterback Sam Bradford into the starting position on the team. After a torn hamstring would take Sam Bradford out of the lineup in the Outlaws' week three game, third-string quarterback Connor Cook would be forced to take control of the offense for the remainder of the season, which would end with expectations of the franchise being realized as the team finished the season with a 1-5 record, tied with the worst record in the league alongside the 1-5 Detroit Stingers and the 1-5 Los Angeles Bolts.
With the 2018 UFL Season approaching, head coach Fran Tarkenton would sign former Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts halfback Trent Richardson to assist Ricky Ray as he came back from an injury for the team's second season. Despite early success, the team would finish the season losing three straight after a 2-1 record to start the season to fall to a 2-4 record to end the season, finishing tied for the second-worst record in the league. Despite only one year of film on Ray, Tarkenton and the Outlaws ownership would show faith in him by signing Ray to an extension to remain the starting quarterback of the Outlaws throughout 2022. With his tenure as head coach being placed on the hot seat going into the 2019 UFL Season, Tarkenton and the Outlaws would hire Mark Aloe to serve as the team's general manager going into the 2018 UFL Free Agency period in hopes of adding new talent to the team in hopes of bringing it into contention for a postseason berth.
Despite assumptions going into the 2019 UFL Season that the Outlaws would return to their place as one of the worst team's in the UFL for 2019, the Outlaws would go .500 for the first time in their franchise history with an 8-8 record, missing the postseason for the third straight year.
=== Will Hall era (2019-2022) ===
Despite the average record during the 2019 UFL Season, Ricky Ray would continue to be trusted by the Outlaws running the offense after an MVP-contention season would help assist the Outlaws. Despite Ray's success, the Outlaws would fire Fran Tarkenton after losing trust in him to bring a winning culture to the Outlaws, replacing him with Will Hall during the 2019 UFL offseason to serve as the team's head coach going into the 2020 UFL Season. Will Hall would serve as the club's head coach for three years, only making the playoffs once. In Ricky Ray's final season with the team, the Outlaws would win the PCF Coastal Division with an 11-8 record before being eliminated by the Arizona Copperheads in the Wildcard Round. Following the game, Ricky Ray would announce his retirement from football, leaving the Outlaws with no quarterback. 
In the 2020 UFL Draft, the Outlaws would draft quarterback Nick Robinson out of Penn with plans for him to eventually become the club's franchise quarterback. In addition to drafting Robinson, the team would sign quarterbacks Jason Eason and Brad Kaaya in free agency. Prior to the start of the year, Hall named Jason Eason the starting quarterback for the club. Kaaya was named the backup, and rookie quarterback Nick Robinson would sit behind both as the third string quarterback. In the 2021 UFL Season, the Outlaws would take a step back and finish with an 8-11 record, missing the playoffs and finishing in third place in the PCF Coastal Division. The Outlaws board would confirm their faith in Will Hall and the plan he'd laid for future success privately, backing him to remain as the head coach of the club going into the third year.
In the 2021 UFL Draft, the Outlaws would use their sixth overall pick on linebacker Darius Reynolds out of Richmond. Defensive end Brayden Thomas out of North Dakota State and wide receiver Austin Mitchell out of Southeastern Louisiana were the club's second and third rounds picks respectively. The Outlaws entered their third season under Will Hall with Brad Kaaya as the starting quarterback and began near the bottom of the league. Will Hall proceeded to be scrutinised by the league's media prior to naming now-second year quarterback Nick Robinson as the starting quarterback halfway through the year. The change at quarterback did nothing to change the status of the club, who would end the 2022 UFL Season as the worst team in the league with a 4-15 record. Due to a rule change in the offseason, their status as the worst team in the league would not earn them the top pick in the draft, and instead gave them the worst non-playoff pick in the draft in exchange for their poor performance. Following the season, Will Hall was fired as the club's coach, and the board returned to the coaching search. Reynolds would end his rookie year with 84 tackles, 2 interceptions and half of a sack away from cracking the ten mark on the year. Austin Mitchell, the third round selection, would finish with 920 yards receiving a 9 touchdowns on the season, while Brayden Thomas would finish with 81 tackles and 6 sacks. Nick Robinson would throw for 3,101 yards, 22 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his starts through half of the season. This performance would be good enough for him to be re-signed to a one-year deal by Brian Bohannon in the offseason.
=== Brian Bohannon era (2022-present) ===
The Outlaws board decided to hire Brian Bohannon to be the club's third coach in the off-season, and entered the 2022 UFL Draft with the tenth pick in the first round, a selection they would use on kicker Stone Galloway out of Eastern Illinois. During the free agency period, the Outlaws made massive splashes by signing crucial stars to their roster. The biggest landing in the league's free agency was former Cincinnati Lynx and St. Louis Eagles quarterback Skyler Howard, who signed a four-year, $28M deal with the Outlaws in the off-season. The Outlaws would also go on to sign halfback Will Knight, who'd been allowed to enter free agency at the end of his rookie deal by the Texas Watchmen, to a maximum-length, six-year, $12M deal. The Outlaws would also go on to sign wide receiver JP Shohfi from the Tampa Silverstars, who'd been allowed to enter free agency following the end of his rookie deal. The Outlaws would be touted to be amongst the most improved teams in the entire league, and were pitched to potentially make the playoffs by analysts.
The Outlaws would finish the 2023 UFL Season with a 12-7 record, winning the PCF Coastal Division for the second time in club history and clinching a home playoff game against the Tampa Silverstars in the PCF Wildcard Round. Skyler Howard was named the starting quarterback prior to the season, and became the first quarterback for the club to start all nineteen games in the regular season since Ricky Ray in 2020. Howard finished the season throwing 5,737 yards, 37 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Will Knight ran for 2,007 yards, 19 touchdowns and only fumbled the ball five times. Darius Reynolds took a step back, increasing his total of tackles to 101 from 84 the prior year, but finishing with 5.5 sacks. Austin Mitchell also took a massive step down, catching only 25 passes and a single touchdown, finishing with 199 receiving yards. Brayden Thomas, however, took a massive step up in his second year. Thomas finished with 84 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and a whopping 14.0 sacks.