Are you ready for some indoor football?
By Alex Zeese
The roster isn’t finished yet, they still have to cut down to the final 25 man roster, and the Valor still need to find a kicker. I wonder if ol’ Cobra Kai Forbath is busy? But the inaugural seasons for the Valor looks to have some promise, a young team with some solid veteran leadership to help lead them forward in 2017.
Washington DC knows that from pop-warner to the pros, games are won in the trenches. This is DC, home of the greatest offensive line in NFL history, heck this website was named after the Hogs! It’s only fitting that when the Valor first started signing players there was a focus on offensive linemen. Tackles were among their first picks in this years dispersal draft, and in press releases the team’s announced at least a dozen linemen being signed. Over the course of the offseason, we’re now down to 7 on the depth chart.
It warms the heart to see that our Arena League team knows what Washington Football is all about, and it’s not surprising to me that coach Dean Cokinos is building this way. Cokinos has been coaching in the arena leagues since 2003. He won an AF2 championship with the Tennessee Valley Vipers in 2008. He’s been with a number of different teams over the last 15+ years, both in the AF2 and AFL as a coach. In interviews he seems to be very aware of Washington DC’s football roots, and about what it will take for this new team to have some early success. Building a new roster around some veteran talent.
Veteran QB Erik Meyer was the AFL MVP in 2013 while playing for the San Jose Sabercats and has won 2 championships. While a 34 year old QB isn’t someone you can plan on building your team around for the next five years, but he should provide veteran stability at the most important position in football for a few seasons.
On the other side of the ball, we have a home grown player locals should get excited about, Tracy Belton. He grew up in the shadows of FedEx Field. Last year while playing with the Philadelphia Soul he won the Defensive MVP award coming away with nine interceptions and 80 tackles. In his 7 years in the AFL he has been a tackling machine, routinely ending the season leading his teams in tackles, so expect him to be a force to reckon with in the secondary.
Finally, I know what fans care about. You’re trying to decided on whose jersey to get this year, you know it, I know it, EVERYONE knows it. Well good news, we have two players in camp with the last name Washington, but this is an offense first league so I’d go with the former Hawaii player Mike Washington, who is a six year vet who should make the final roster.