With Atlanta United FC and Minnesota United FC entering the league next year, the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft is set to take place three days after MLS Cup in Los Angeles.

Here at SB Nation we didn’t feel like waiting that long, so we’re throwing our own mock expansion draft next week.



The rules are simple: Atlanta FC and MNUTD are allowed to make five selections from the league’s 20 clubs, for a total of ten picks. No team can lose more than a single player. Each club is allowed to protect eleven players, and Generation Adidas players and Homegrowns are exempted.



So who did we end up protecting?

Protected list

Emmanuel Boateng

Ashley Cole

AJ DeLaGarza

Landon Donovan

Giovani dos Santos

Sebastian Lletget

Jack McBean

Brian Rowe

Daniel Steres

Jelle Van Damme

Gyasi Zardes

Unprotected

Leonardo Da Silva

Clement Diop

Rafael Garcia

Steven Gerrard

Alan Gordon

Baggio Husidic

Bradford Jamieson IV*

Robbie Keane (departing)

Dan Kennedy

Jeff Larentowicz

Ariel Lassiter*

Mike Magee

Raul Mendiola*

Robbie Rogers

David Romney

Oscar Sorto*

Jose Villareal

Thoughts? Here’s to hoping no one selects Robbie Rogers. At least we managed to hold onto AJ.