Final 2023 Colorado Rapids Player Salaries Announced

COMMERCE CITY – The MLS Players Association announced the final player salaries earlier this week. Here’s a list of the Colorado Rapids player salaries. Then some commentary on what the numbers mean. See the full list of salaries here. See the details from the first half of the season (released April 30) here.

Kévin Cabral                           $1,800,000                  $1,800,000

Rafael Navarro                        $1,100,000                  $1,427,708

Andreas Maxsø                       $1,100,000                  $1,292,500

Jack Price                                $762,500                     $825,000

Sidnei Tavares                        $525,000                     $750,600

Diego Rubio                            $660,000                     $714,667

Lalas Abubakar                       $665,000                     $702,125

Luis Díaz                                $500,000                     $533,900

Connor Ronan                         $460,000                     $512,400

William Yarbrough                 $400,000                     $475,000

Braian Galván                         $365,700                     $462,022

Cole Bassett                            $450,000                     $450,000

Marko Ilić                               $420,000                     $442,850

Jonathan Lewis                       $410,000                     $435,000

Keegan Rosenberry                $400,000                     $400,000

Andrew Gutman                     $350,000                     $381,250

Sam Nicholson                        $325,000                     $360,313

Gustavo Vallecilla             $336,000             $368,880

Danny Wilson                         $330,000                     $354,750

Max Alves da Silva                $232,000                     $313,360

Alex Gersbach                        $230,000                     $270,433

Aboubacar Keita                     $215,000                     $245,313

Danny Leyva                          $200,000                     $224,900

Steven Beitashour                   $150,000                     $172,500

Michael Edwards                    $125,000                     $125,000

Sebastian Anderson                $120,000                     $121,667

Calvin Harris                          $100,000                     $113,000

Darren Yapi                            $85,444                       $96,277

Ralph Priso                             $89,716                       $89,716

Abraham Rodriguez                $88,200                       $88,200

Moïse Bombito                       $67,360                       $85,572

Oliver Larraz                          $85,444                       $85,444

Daniel Chacón                       $67,360                       $75,110

Jackson Travis                        $67,360                       $69,860

The total team salary comes out to around $14.5 million in total compensation. These numbers do not tell the full story though. Kévin Cabral is the highest earner on this list. But remember that LA Galaxy are paying half of his wages. In terms of how much the Rapids are paying him, he’s fourth highest.

Then there’s the loan players. Danny Leyva is on loan from Seattle Sounders. Colorado’s picked up that salary when that happened in April but sent some GAM to Seattle as part of the loan. Gustavo Vallecilla is on loan with Columbus Crew, so Colorado’s not on the hook for his entire $368,880. Luis Díaz was acquired through waivers in September, so Colorado’s responsible for a third of that annual salary (four months).

Aboubacar Keita signed an extension back in August. The MLSPA’s announcement reflects his current deal, not any potential raise or pay cut that came with the extension. Daniel Chacón is technically a Rapids 2 player. He signed a first team deal in July to start in January and promptly went on loan to Alajuelense.

Max Alves is still listed on here. He’s technically under contract despite his situation and his Instagram stories clearly showing he’s back in Denver.

In terms of new players, we already knew Andrew Gutman’s salary from the spring when he was with Atlanta. Under $400K is a good value contract. Sidnei Tavares is on $750K on loan. Rafael Navarro is on $1.43 million, highest on the team in terms of what the Rapids are paying him. Based on the MLSPA’s publicly available data, that is the third highest salary in club history in terms of guaranteed comp (Tim Howard $2.5 million, Shkelzen Gashi $1.7 million). That’s significant.

Again, these numbers don’t tell the full story for any MLS club. That said, the Rapids are about 20th in player compensation in the league. Take into account other clubs absorbing some of these salaries and they fall bit down that ranking. Take into account transfer fees, they’re even closer to the bottom.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken.

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