After last week’s announcement that FC Cincinnati would be selecting five players in another Expansion Draft on December 11, the thought quickly shifted to who might FC Dallas have to save this year.

In years past, teams have to protect 11 players (Generation adidas players and Homegrown on the supplemental roster are automatically protected). Only one player from each team can be selected in the five-round draft.

So who should FC Dallas protect this year?

Auto-protected:

Note: Chris Richards and Thomas Roberts are signed as HGPs but they weren’t on the 2018 roster, so they’re exempt and are not eligible.

Who’s in danger of being selection?

Victor Ulloa

The hardest part of the projection for me came down to Hayes vs Victor Ulloa. My gut tells me that Ulloa could end up getting protected just because of his connection with Oscar Pareja. But in terms of value or upside, I still believe Hayes projects better in the long run than Ulloa does for this squad.

Looking back to when this team was truly successful this season, a lot of it had to do with the way Hayes played in the midfield when Kellyn Acosta was hurt. And while Hayes struggled to see the field down the stretch in the season, he would be a massive steal for any expansion team when you look at the money ($75,750.04 for Hayes vs $182,500.00 for Ulloa in total compensation).

Ryan Hollingshead

I can’t decide which one I would be more bummed out by if Cincinnati selected from this group between Ulloa or utility-man Hollingshead. We know what Hollingshead can bring to the table in a pinch, let’s also not forget his goalkeeping skills.

From the money side of things, $145,000.00 isn’t that expensive for an expansion team to spend a pick on through this type of draft. A year ago, LAFC mostly spent on the cheaper side through the draft with Marco Urena being the most expensive guy selected at nearly $300k.

Tesho Akindele

I know some of you are thinking, “dear God, take him off our hands” and that is understandable. His price tag is at a good spot too for an expansion team, as he earned $122,500.00 this season.

Honestly, I think it is time for FCD to move on from him and allow him to have a change of scenery.

Jimmy Maurer

We know good goalkeeping is tough to find in this league and if Gonzalez is saved, Maurer will definitely not be. His $122,500.00 price tag isn’t bad either for an expansion team.

In a weird way, he may be the one guy I would be shocked by if he wasn’t selected here.

Not in danger, so don’t worry too much

Pretty much the rest of the unprotected list is either too old (Maynor Figueroa or Abel Aguilar), too pricy (Roland Lamah) or too hurt (Cristian Colman).

One could worry about losing a Kyle Zobeck or Moises Hernandez but why would you worry about two guys that never saw the field for FC Dallas in 2018?