Protected/unprotected player-related rules:

The following five teams, who had players selected by FC Cincinnati during the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft, are exempt from the 2019 Expansion Draft: D.C. United, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, and New York Red Bulls.

The other 19 returning MLS clubs that competed during the 2019 season can protect 12 players between their Senior, Supplemental and Reserve Roster. If the player’s contract expires at the end of 2019, he will still be considered part of the club’s Roster. If a club protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player’s option. It may renegotiate a new contract with the player as in previous years, subject to the CBA. Option Decline Free Agents and Out of Contract Free Agents are part of the Expansion Draft and are not automatically protected.

Players on a club’s Supplemental Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2019 MLS Season or Homegrown Players – ages 25 and under (born in or after 1994), are eligible.

Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2019 MLS Season and Homegrown Players (ages 25 and under –born in or after 1994) on a club’s Roster at the end of the 2019 MLS Season are automatically protected. Clubs do not have to use a protected slot on them.

Designated Players are NOT automatically protected (i.e., clubs must choose whether to protect such players and if such player is not protected, he will be available for selection in the Expansion Draft).