I, too, am not quite ready to let go of the 2024 Washington Spirit. It was a fun, resilient and joyful team that was a delight to watch all season. There were so many individual stories of adversity being overcome and rapid player development, all culminating in a remarkable march to the NWSL Championship game. It was a magical season but try as we might to cling on, the irresistible march of time insists that we move on.

Offseasons for the Spirit and their fans have come with a bit of trauma. While the end result of last offseason was this 2024 team, the path taken involved shocking and brutal decisions. Thanks to changes secured by a new (yet still curiously unfinalized) Collective Bargaining Agreement, this offseason should be more palatable. Let’s review where the Spirit stand in Free Agency, NWSL Draft (Except Not), Trades, and International Signings.

Free Agency

The Spirit have done a good job to secure the core of this team for the next couple seasons, at least. Several players are signed through 2025 and beyond, with the exceptions of Makenna Morris (who signed a one-year extension earlier this year) and Trinity Rodman, who is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season.

I know I just said things would be palatable then dropped the potential of Trinity Rodman hitting free agency at the end of next season but hear me out. Rodman will surely be in high demand if she hits the open market, but there’s no reason to believe it will ever get that far. Likely, Rodman and the Spirit are doing the smart thing and getting their full financial information about next season and beyond before offering her the max contract they can give. Michele Kang already dropped a million to keep Rodman around after her rookie season, so she knows her value and won’t hesitate to drop the requisite bag.

On a personal level Rodman also seems comfortable in DC. Her brother was drafted by NBA G-League team Capital City Go-Go, and she knows she’s still at a place that can help her develop higher up the ranks of the best in the world. European offers could be tempting, but don’t expect any other team to convince Rodman that they’d be a better fit for her than the Spirit.

However, non-renewed contracts of a few other players likely places their Spirit careers in jeopardy. Those players are Anna Heilferty, Nicole Barnhart, Civana Kuhlmann, Jenna Butler, Anaïg Butel, Kaylie Collins, Waniya Hudson and Lena Silano. Of those, Heilferty and Kuhlmann are on the SEI list, so there is the potential of a short-term extension so they can be assessed once healthy. This is more likely in Heilferty’s case than Kuhlmann’s, as the latter’s absolutely horrific injury luck over the last few years has been a sad and painful-sounding saga. Also, if social media is any tell, she hasn’t been in or near Spirit facilities in a while, and it would not be shocking if a retirement announcement was imminent.

It also wouldn’t be a major surprise to see them offer a deal to 26-year-old, 5’10 goalkeeper Kaylie Collins. However, one departure seems all but confirmed. Anaïg Butel has penned a beautiful reflection of her time with the Spirit on her Instagram account, pretty much assuring she won’t be part of the 2025 team.

NWSL Draft (Except Not)

Surprise! There will not be an NWSL Draft this offseason. One of the primary changes the new CBA grants is that the college draft has been yeeted into oblivion, as the good Lord intended. There was some confusion as to whether this would happen immediately or if the draft would be phased out over time, but last month San Diego Wave announced the signing of Texas forward Trinity Byars, which pretty much gave us a direct answer.

So without a draft, how will teams sign college players? Well, just like the Wave did it. Every player in college, if they are prepared to go pro, will begin their careers as a free agent. The NWSL already instituted a U18 rule that allowed those players to land with whatever team they preferred, so continuing to restrict autonomy for players above 18-years-old wouldn’t be all that fair anyway. With other roster building restrictions like maximum roster sizes and a salary cap, you’re unlikely to see all of the top college talent flock to one team.

But even if a team manages to pull that off, it’s fine. Gotham signed every top-level free agent last offseason and while they had a great season, they finished third and were beaten in the semifinals. This league is a lot tougher than a lot of people give it credit for when they complain about player autonomy under the guise of preserving parity.

Anyway, back to the Spirit. Recruiting college players is potentially where former FSU coach, current Washington Spirit GM, Mark Krikorian, could be a cheat code. He hasn’t coached in years, which likely means he hasn’t scouted in a long time either, but the contacts he’s made came in handy when securing talented college players from (Croix Bethune, Hal Hershfelt, Courtney Brown, Makenna Morris, Kate Wiesner), and outside of (Heather Stainbrook), the draft.

Now that swapping players for draft picks is no longer necessary to secure top-ranked talents, Krikorian can sign the next crop of Spirit ‘rookies but don’t call them rookies‘. I’m extremely excited to see what the Spirit do with this opportunity.

Trades

The new CBA also requires trades to be mutually agreed upon between the clubs and the player. That last part is a key part, after multiple offseasons of players being traded away with no input, little notice, or sometimes even no notice at all.

Lynn Williams shared her shock at being traded from Kansas City in a farewell post on Instagram, and detailed the awkward ordeal during media availability while with the USWNT. Alex Loera was also dealt from Kansas City in a move she did not expect, and further detailed her perceived betrayal in an Instagram farewell post as well: ‘It is incredibly disheartening to know that this took place after I had expressed my feelings about the kind of loyal person I am & my desire to finish out the contract I had agreed to with KC’. Cece Kizer detailed her sudden trade from Kansas City to Houston (months later she and Houston would mutually agree to terminate her contract), and Spirit fans know Ashley Sanchez and Sam Staab were also not expecting their Spirit careers to end so suddenly last offseason.

Requiring players to mutually agree to trades will make securing agreements from all parties much harder, but as previously detailed that is a good thing. To be honest, trading players turns them a bit too much into commodities anyway, as “fair value” for a person is kind of an icky thing to have to assess. Players also have value beyond the stats or metrics they compile on the pitch—locker room fit, leadership, training habits, community involvement, etc.—so trying to match it all is impossible, and doesn’t consider a player as a full person. When chemistry within a team is as important as it is in soccer, these attributes aren’t superfluous, they’re important aspects of how a player impacts a team.

Also, while minimum salaries have increased this is still not a sport in which the median salary provides sufficient living arrangements in most, if not all, NWSL markets. Trading a player from Kansas City to Los Angeles, Washington, DC, or New Jersey/New York is going to have a massive financial impact. Players having a say in decisions that will greatly impact them on and off the pitch is good. But maybe don’t expect many trades this offseason.

International Signings

The Washington Spirit have to be one of the most attractive NWSL destinations for international talent. Everyone in Europe, and likely globally, is aware of Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez‘s success with Barcelona Femení, winning back-to-back UWCL titles. Also, even in a half season stint with the Spirit, an ability to develop and improve players was on full display. Not just in the form of Trinity Rodman and Tara McKeown having great seasons, but all six Spirit rookies plus summer international signings Esme Morgan, Leicy Santos and Rosemonde Kouassi. Morgan took a gamble to come to the Spirit specifically to improve under Giráldez, and she’s suddenly been a regular in England camps.

Also, in Giráldez’s introductory Spirit press conference he promised to not bring any Barcelona players with him—that year. Well 2025 is a different year, and several of his former players were sad to see him go. With Michele Kang’s ambitions, and money, a reunion or two in Washington, DC might not be out of the question.

Luckily for Barca fans, Ballon d’Or-winning midfielders Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas both signed contract extensions this year. And despite a 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the UWCL group stage, Barca still look like a juggernaut in Champions League play, and are still on track to win every-effin-thing in Liga F. However, part of Barca’s secret sauce is their relentless depth, aided by several players having grown up and developed in their famous academy, La Masia. The flipside of depth can mean that some players don’t play as much as they want, and despite some comically misguided comments from the new President of Liga F, Beatriz Álvarez, league play is still woefully uncompetitive.

As I type Barcelona top the league table with 12 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses with 56 goals scored and just 7 conceded. That sounds fun, and probably is quite fun the first season or two, but for competitionaholics—which many pro athletes are—that kind of dominance doesn’t come close to scratching that particular itch. So what I’m saying is Salma Paralluelo, Keira Walsh, or Alexia Putellas: let’s chat.

Image courtesy of Washington Spirit