10 of those 21 passes were picks that the teams had traded for. And @Yoshou thought cutting the draft by 2 (or 3) rounds wouldn't work well for the kids.
I also noted that teams need to stop thinking just about their MLS clubs, but also thinking about stocking their USL clubs. There were plenty of players available in the draft that teams could have taken and then signed to USL contracts.
Generally true, but the drafting part of that isn't necessary. Atlanta signed Dylan Castanheira to their USL team on Friday. He got drafted by Dallas today. The weird part of that is that Atlanta passed before Castanheira got taken, so they could have secured his MLS rights, but elected not to.
Which runs afoul of MLS anti-competitive/parity policies. Allowing MLS teams to bypass the draft and sign players directly to their USL teams is just going to create more situations like you described, which means teams competing for players, higher costs, etc, etc.
Hmmm. I'd have to guess that perhaps Dallas thought they might be able to extract some allocation money out of Atlanta if they were to try to move Castanheira to their MLS roster.
If there was ever a sign that A) the MLS #SuperDraft needs to be shortened to two rounds and B) MLS needs to stop calling it a SUPER Draft, today's scene 21 of 48 3rd-4th round picks going unused certainly provided that sign.— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) January 14, 2019 Most MLS fans probably don't know why the "super" is in SuperDraft, but in any case having it still called that is just embarrassing at this point...
No... It shouldn't be allowed for teams to bypass the draft to sign players to their USL team. Let's take the example he provided of Atlanta signing a draft eligible player to their USL team prior to the draft starting. That shouldn't be allowed, at least with regards to keeping the draft viable in some manner.
FCD throws a shot at ATL, who already signed Castanheira to ATL 2 and dropped out of the combine because of it. Means they acquire his MLS rights for the next two years. If ATL need to bring a GK for an emergency hardship, he won't be available. https://t.co/ZkSFp9UOpN— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) January 14, 2019 Seems to answer my question. Kinda like this level of salt.
They likely have other USL players they want to have rights to. Teams are only allowed a handful of claims to USL players.
Just because a team can sign players to a USL contract doesn't mean that the team has that players MLS rights. USL and MLS are two different leagues.
Andy Mead/MLS It's been at least three years since we got all of the head coaches. Dom sat in for a sick Sigi last year, and Dave sat in for an absent Bruce the year before. I vaguely recall a second substitution, and Tata was late last year, missing the scarf photo, but showing up for the scarfless one.
The only funny anecdote this year is that the Seattle social media guy next to me groaned when he saw who they put front and center.
But drafting a player locks them up for 2 years. So a team can draft a player, get their rights for 2 years, and sign them to a USL contract. If they don’t pan out, minimal loss. If they do pan out, it could be a big gain.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/league/official-rules/mls-roster-rules-and-regulations USL Priority Players In addition to Homegrown Players and College Protected Players – clubs may have priority for up to three players from their respective United Soccer League (USL) affiliates. In order to retain priority on any additional USL affiliate players, such players must be added to an MLS club's Discovery List. College Protected List Unless claimed on waivers, a player who was drafted by a particular team through the SuperDraft and did not sign with the League, is placed on that team's "College Protected List" until December 31st of the year after the draft, after which the team loses the priority to sign the player.
I can't find it now, but I saw an article last week that said that a lot of the players at the combine already had USL contracts in hand with escape clauses if they make an MLS team. Those deals could complicate the strategy of drafting a player to sign them to a USL deal. They could still sign those draftees to MLS contracts and loan to USL, I'm sure.
So shouldn't Atlanta have drafted the guy they had already signed (rather than pass, which they did) at minimum to block someone else from snatching up his MLS rights? What would have been the downside there?