Wed. Oct 30th, 2024
Colorado Rapids player salaries
Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

BETHESDA, Md. – It’s the second edition of one of my favorite MLS holidays of the year. Player salary release day. The MLS Players Association announced the 2024 fall player salaries today. Find the whole list here. Burgundy Wave reacted to the initial release of Rapids player salaries back in May. Find that information here.

NameBase SalaryGuaranteed Compensation
Kévin Cabral*$1,950,000$1,950,000
Djordje Mihailović$1,350,000$1,675,000
Rafael Navarro$1,392,000$1,449,600
Andreas Maxsø$1,150,000$1,342,500
Zack Steffen$900,000$900,000
Lamine Diack*$750,000$864,150
Sam Vines$850,000$862,500
Cole Bassett$850,000$850,000
Reggie Cannon*$750,000$841,500
Sidnei Tavares$525,000$750,600
Lalas Abubakar$665,000$702,125
Omir Fernandez$575,000$636,875
Connor Ronan$470,000$522,400
Marko Ilić*$420,000$442,850
Jonathan Lewis$410,000$435,000
Keegan Rosenberry$400,000$400,000
Sam Nicholson*$350,000$385,313
Miguel Navarro*$300,000$339,000
Aboubacar Keita*$240,000$270,313
Jasper Löffelsend$230,000$255,833
Sebastian Anderson$150,000$150,000
Michael Edwards$130,000$130,000
Calvin Harris$125,000$127,000
Moïse Bombito*$89,716$107,928
Oliver Larraz$100,000$105,375
Darren Yapi$89,716$100,549
Daniel Chacón$90,000$97,750
Jackson Travis$89,716$92,216
Rémi Cabral*$89,716$89,716
Ethan Bandré$89,716$89,716
Adam Beadury$71,401$75,568
Kimani Stewart-Baynes$71,401$72,401
Wayne Frederick$71,401$71,401
Nate Jones$71,401$71,401
* See below for further context on the salaries of these players. Summer signings are included in bold. Former players who were included in the spring salary release are included in italics for the sake of the completeness.

Let’s start with some basic takeaways. The total salary compensation for currently rostered Rapids players is around $14.4 million, down from the spring’s $16.3 million and close to last fall’s $14.5 million. The dead money due to the team parting ways with Sidnei Tavares, Sam Nicholson, etc. contributed to that. The salaries listed in the spring and fall don’t necessarily reflect the dead cap implications. That may have also limited their flexibility to spend more and bring in reinforcements this summer. On just these payroll numbers, Colorado are third-to-last in MLS ahead of Montreal and Philadelphia.

It’s worth noting this is the amount these players are getting paid by MLS for the year under the single entity structure. These numbers don’t necessarily reflect the total spend by the Rapids. This information also does not include transfer fees. Colorado spent reportedly between $6-7 million on transfer fees to bring in Mihailović in the winter and make Navarro permanent in the summer. Navarro did get a salary raise of almost $100K annually compared to his loan salary for what that’s worth. Colorado spent big by their standards in 2024. They’re still in the bottom half of the league in net spend.

Kévin Cabral is the top earner on the team, making almost $2 million. His compensation is more than Luis Suarez. Remember as part of the trade from LA Galaxy, they’re picking up about half of his contract. So the Rapids are only on the hook for about $1 million. The final year of his contract is 2025.

Rémi Cabral is still on loan at Phoenix Rising and Miguel Navarro is with Talleres in Argentina with an option to buy. The loan clubs are surely picking up some of that salary.

The new information is that recently signed free agent Reggie Cannon is on $750,000. That’s reasonable given he was coming from Europe (albeit not getting paid sometimes) and given what other fringe USMNT players coming back to MLS are getting with Colorado and elsewhere.

Zack Steffen is still one of the top earners for goalkeeper in the league. He’s worth it as I’ve written previously.

This team doesn’t have a lot of dead weight, thankfully. Bassett and the DPs are all pulling their weight. They’re paying 50 cents on the dollar for Cabral. It’s fair to say at this point Sam Vines has had an underwhelming year. Hopefully he can raise his level and get over what happened at Royal Antwerp. He Colorado’s got $2 million in salary invested in their top three fullbacks. That position needs to become a strength.

If there are any bad contracts on the team, it’s Jonathan Lewis and Lalas Abubakar. Lewis is on $435K, which isn’t huge by today’s standards. There are younger and cheaper wingers on this team who have produced more. Lewis is out of contract this year.

Abubakar got a big raise from last year and is making over $700K. That’s probably more than he’s worth. Abubakar has a team option for 2025. If he was making $500K, I would have no complaints about his value this year.

Lastly, the young cheep kids at the bottom of the roster have value. Calvin Harris and Oli Larraz are regular starters. They’re on $100K. There’s a bunch of young players with upside on that kind of money and under club control for the foreseeable future. Pádraig Smith doesn’t just cook. He plants seeds.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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