Looking at the two side by side, Greguš comes out on top in open play passing, generating .096 goal equivalents in passing value per 90 compared to .083 for Price. Over the course of the season, those numbers come out to 2.277 for Greguš and 1.590 for Price. In other words, Greguš’s efforts have led to an effect that’s nearly equal to scoring an an extra goal for his team (over Price’s efforts). As mentioned above, however, Price’s open play passing only accounts for about 24% of his overall passing value, whereas it is 37% of Greguš’s. Free kicks account for another 18% of Price’s output (11% for the Slovakian), and he gets about double the value that Greguš does per 90: .063 to .029. Those numbers prorate to 1.219 and .689 on the season. And on corner kicks—Price’s bread and butter—he outpaces Greguš again, earning .202 p90 and 3.878 compared to the Slovakian’s .133 and 3.152. Worth noting is that Greguš has played about 400 more minutes than Price this season, meaning he has had more opportunity to bump his season numbers compared to Price, which mitigates the difference between them in terms of open play passing and widens it on set pieces in Price’s favor. Greguš has also taken 36 more corner kicks this season (100 to 64), putting the value Price gets out of them in an even more favorable light. Remarkably, JP has completed almost as many corners as not (29 to 35) and almost as many as Greguš total (29 to 37), despite having many fewer chances. Jack Price has been an exceptional corner kick taker in 2019.

To qualify the argument a bit, Price’s value to the Rapids doesn’t only come from his set piece taking. As the bar chart above shows, his Pass Quality and Progressive Passing both sit >25% above league average, and his ball security is second to none—Price completes more passes per turnover/loss of possession than almost anyone in the league. This leads to an xGC (expected Goal Chain) that, while not elite, is still better than more heralded central midfielders like Darlington Nagbe, Saphir Taider, and Alexander Ring. Looking at it from a different perspective, the chart below uses Cheuk Hei Ho’s WOWY measure to show the moderately positive impact Price has with his passing from the defensive and middle thirds of the field. Comparing Price in 2019 to his own 2018 season, he influences the game significantly more with his passing from the defensive third, increasing his WOWY z-score from well below average to slightly above average. However, as the ball moves further up the pitch, Price’s impact on Colorado’s passing becomes more and more limited; his impact in the final third is negligible. So whatever positive impacts Price is having must be qualified, as his overall impact is relatively muted. That may be an understatement—Price’s WOWY is the lowest at his position since 2018. His influence on Colorado’s possessions is minute. This may not be because of lack of quality; that’s not what WOWY measures. Colorado plays a pretty vertical game: the average distance of their forward passes is third highest in the league. Perhaps their counter-attacking strategy leads them to bypass the midfield altogether. Still, Price’s own partner in the middle of the field, Kellyn Acosta, grades out better (with a WOWY of 0.222 compared to Price’s 0.004), meaning that it can’t all be blamed on team style; Price has teammates in the same position who are much more influential than he is. Price’s impact during open play is extremely—uniquely—limited, for good or bad.