Captain Keegan Rosenberry Puts Rapids Season in Perspective, Looks Forward to 2026

Commerce City – The 2025 MLS season has now ended for the Colorado Rapids. High expectations to start were dampened by some tough results and players exiting mid-season. A few good results coupled with new additions and returns from injury sparked hope for a post-season run, but were dashed in heart-breaking fashion on Decision Day at home……Yep, a little bit of everything for the Burgundy Boys this season.

One person who’s had to adapt and adjust his focus this season, similar to the entire squad in crunch time, is Captain Keegan Rosenberry. While it’s also been a challenging season for him on a personal level, on a team level Keegan lays out for the fans some of what’s been necessary as the pressure mounts internally and seasons wind down to their ends.

“Compartmentalizing is such a big part of, I don’t know if I want to say just athletes, but there’s definitely some other occupations you can draw similarities to,” Keegan told Burgundy Wave recently. “Your ability to block things out, your ability to focus on the job at hand, it’s so relevant to what we try and do because the emotional aspect of results can weigh on you and really affect the day-to-day, and we do our best not to let that happen.”

That can especially be felt after a gut-punch loss like Saturday night and elimination from playoff contention, but that can also be how a team like Colorado can easily rebound in 2026 given their makeup. “That’s why we’ve got a good group and we train well each day, and we’ve got a good energy, so I’m proud of the group for that,” Keegan says.

“We’re all competing for the same thing here in sports and that’s championships, that’s winning and success. That is hard not to look back on as, ok we didn’t hit our goal this year of get into the playoffs and see what happens, but that doesn’t define.

“There’s (NBA star) Giannis Antetokounmpo a couple years ago on their playoff run and losing, and a reporter asking if the season is a failure because of that. You can see it how some might see it that way, but it’s so much more than that.”

“There’s a lot of growth happening, and there’s so many different stories on this team and in this organization about growth and development and progress,” Rosenberry rightly reflects on he and his co-workers. “It’s so much more about that, and in a lot of different areas we’ve achieved that.”

“We’re going to react to it, we’re going to feel some things, we’re going to grow from it either way, and that really doesn’t define what ’25 was. It’s just one of the matches and the consequences of that.”

That non-emotional, veteran professional view is part of what makes Keegan the perfect man for his title of Captain of the Rapids. He could very well have pulled back his attitude and efforts from a lack of usual playing time, but did not. He takes pride in his job, his teammates, and himself.

“It’s been different for me,” he says retrospectively of 2025. “I’ve always been fortunate to play the lion’s share of the minutes every team I’ve pretty much been on. I’ve done my best to still try to lead these guys. I still think what’s nice about being here so long and playing so much is still having the respect of everybody in the locker room and the staff, and still being looked at to make decisions and have a voice and lead by example in training up to each match every week.

“It’s been challenging at times, competitively. As an elite athlete you want to be on the pitch on the weekend, but so little of the job is really seen by the public, and that’s really not what defines us or me. It’s still the pride that I have personally has nothing to do with the weekend. It’s about showing up for training, being here for the guys, being here for the team, the community, trying to interact with people after the games. The job doesn’t change. More than anything, it’s about leading by example and doing the right things for the young guys.”

Despite his reduced role in Chris Armas’ selection, Rosenberry remains an important cog in the Rapids machine, as evident by his renewed contract which will see him in Commerce City through 2027. “(The contract) goes to the end of 2027. It was (signed) right around the birth of my son, so there’s some security for my wife and I, settling in here a bit, it’s been a long time – almost 10 years here. It’s been so grateful. This job is pretty cool and I’m pretty lucky.

“I’d be lying to you if I say I didn’t want to be playing, but at the same time the contract doesn’t change and the job description is the same. I feel fortunate to have been given a contract extension, so they see me here and that’s proof of still being part of the plan for the future and I’m excited about that.”

Keegan has been around long enough to know how professional sports works – being top of the West one year, to missing the playoffs another – in short spans of time. However, he sees enough promise to believe whatever happens this off-season that Colorado will be back and improving yet again.

“There’s so much turnover, and I said it to (Rapids President )Padraig (Smith) earlier this year, I think that continuity is really underrated in sports and trying to keep a group together, trying to build on it, build on progress you’ve made, so we’ll see. There’s so much turnover, and so much time between now and the beginning of next year, but I’m optimistic.”

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