Roster Rules

MLS has a new set of roster rules for this season now that the rosters have expanded to 30 players. Here's a (hopefully) simplified look at the rules and how our current camp roster might fit into them.

Players 1-20 - Senior Roster

The first twenty players on the roster make up the senior roster. Those players are the only ones that count against the $2.675 million salary cap. MLS teams are required to have at least 18 players on their senior roster. Any spots under 18 that aren't filled will still have a minimum salary charged against the team. Spots 19 and 20 are optional. The maximum individual salary for a non-DP player is $335,000.

Likely Rapids Senior Roster Players:

Goalkeepers:

Ian Joyce

Matt Pickens

Defenders:

Kosuke Kimura

Tyrone Marshall

Drew Moor

Scott Palguta

Anthony Wallace

Marvell Wynne

Midfielders:

Ross LaBauex

Jeff Larentowicz

Pablo Mastroeni

Brian Mullan

Joseph Nane

Sanna Nyassi

Jamie Smith

Wells Thompson

Forwards:

Quincy Amarikwa

Conor Casey*

Omar Cummings

Macoumba Kandji

* = Its unclear as to how Casey's salary of $350K would work with the limit of $335K for non-Designated Players. The Rapids may have to use $15K of allocation money to buy his salary down to the $335K level.

Players 21-30 - Development Roster

The final 10 players do not count against the cap. Players 21-24 have a minimum salary of $42K. Players 25-30 have a minimum salary of $32,600. Players making $32,600 must be under 25. All Generation Adidas players (of which the Rapids have none) are Development Roster player. Clubs can sign 2 homegrown players to Generation Adidas contract per year.

Likely Rapids Development Roster Players:

Goalkeepers:

Steward Ceus

Defenders:

Eddie Ababio

Joevin Jones

Javed Mohammed

Midfielders:

Davy Armstrong

Steven Emory

Colin Givens

Forwards:

Andre Akpan

Phillip Bannister

Shahdon Winchester

As you can see, most of the development roster is made up of the draftees and the trialists. Since the Rapids are only bringing back 23 players form last year I assumed the 20 senior roster players would come from that group. Davy Armstrong, as a homegrown player, is automatically part of the development Roster since his salary doesn't count against the cap. I chose Steward Ceus as one of the 3 returning players to move to the development roster, because he's the third goalkeeper. Akpan was chosen as the 3rd player because it was just announced that he signed a new contract. There's no reason to give a player who got into one game in his rookie year a new contract unless it was to fit into the new development roster rules.