2016 MLS expansion draft
The 2016 MLS Expansion Draft was a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion teams Atlanta United FC and Minnesota United FC. Atlanta United was selected to pick first by an "Expansion Priority Draft" conducted on October 16, 2016. Protected rosters are based on an MLS release from December 12, 2016.Format
These are the rules for the 2016 MLS Expansion Draft as laid out by Major League Soccer.
- Existing teams are allowed to protect 11 players from their Senior, Supplemental and Reserve Roster. Generation Adidas players and Homegrown Players on supplemental rosters are automatically protected and exempt from the expansion draft. Though players who graduated from the Generation Adidas program to the senior roster at the end of the 2016 season are not exempt.
- Only one player may be claimed from each club’s non-protected roster, that team is then eliminated from the expansion draft and not allowed to lose any further players
- The expansion draft will last 5 rounds totaling 10 players to be drafted.
Expansion Draft order
Affected Post-Draft Trades
Chicago Fire">Chicago Fire Soccer Club">Chicago Fire
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| David Arshakyan | David Accam | Joey Calistri |
| Răzvan Cociș | Arturo Álvarez | Drew Conner |
| Eric Gehrig | Jonathan Campbell | Patrick Doody |
| Michael Harrington | Michael de Leeuw | Collin Fernandez |
| Nick LaBrocca | John Goossens | |
| Patrick McLain | Johan Kappelhof | |
| Alex Morrell | Matt Lampson | |
| Rodrigo Ramos | João Meira | |
| Michael Stephens | Matt Polster | |
| Khaly Thiam | Luis Solignac | |
| Brandon Vincent | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| John Berner | Micheal Azira | Caleb Calvert |
| Marc Burch | Dominique Badji | Zach Pfeffer |
| Bobby Burling | Sam Cronin | Dillon Serna |
| Dennis Castillo | Kevin Doyle | |
| Conor Doyle | Shkëlzen Gashi | |
| Jermaine Jones | Marlon Hairston | |
| Sébastien Le Toux | Tim Howard | |
| Marco Pappa | Zac MacMath | |
| Juan Ramírez | Eric Miller | |
| Sean St Ledger | Dillon Powers | |
| Jared Watts | Axel Sjöberg | |
| Mekeil Williams | | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Corey Ashe | Harrison Afful | Chad Barson |
| Steve Clark | Ethan Finlay | Ben Swanson |
| Dilly Duka | Federico Higuaín | |
| Waylon Francis | Adam Jahn | |
| Marshall Hollingsworth | Hector Jiménez | |
| Cedrick Mabwati | Ola Kamara | |
| Cristian Martínez | Justin Meram | |
| Matt Pacifici | Nicolai Næss | |
| Mohammed Saeid | Zack Steffen | |
| Rodrigo Saravia | Tony Tchani | |
| Gastón Sauro | Wil Trapp | |
| Brad Stuver | | |
| Tyson Wahl | | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Bobby Boswell | Luciano Acosta | Julian Büscher |
| Andrew Dykstra | Steve Birnbaum | Chris Durkin |
| Sean Franklin | Nick DeLeon | Collin Martin |
| Charlie Horton | Bill Hamid | Jalen Robinson |
| Jared Jeffrey | Taylor Kemp | |
| Alhaji Kamara | Patrick Mullins | |
| Chris Korb | Lamar Neagle | |
| Luke Mishu | Patrick Nyarko | |
| Kofi Opare | Lloyd Sam | |
| Chris Rolfe | Marcelo Sarvas | |
| Alvaro Saborio | Rob Vincent | |
| Travis Worra | | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Colin Bonner | Kellyn Acosta | Fabián Castillo |
| Aubrey David | Tesho Akindele | Coy Craft |
| Getterson | Michael Barrios | Jesse Gonzalez |
| Atiba Harris | Mauro Díaz | Aaron Guillen |
| Ryan Herman | Maynor Figueroa | Paxton Pomykal |
| Moises Hernandez | Carlos Gruezo | |
| Carlos Lizarazo | Matt Hedges | |
| Zach Loyd | Ryan Hollingshead | |
| Juan Esteban Ortiz | Victor Ulloa | |
| Norberto Paparatto | Maximiliano Urruti | |
| Timo Pitter | Walker Zimmerman | |
| Mauro Rosales | | |
| Carlos Ruiz | | |
| Chris Seitz | | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Agus | Alex | Tyler Deric |
| Yair Arboleda | Eric Alexander | Sebastien Ibeagha |
| DaMarcus Beasley | Jalil Anibaba | Christian Lucatero |
| Calle Brown | Will Bruin | |
| Keyner Brown | Ricardo Clark | |
| Kevin Garcia | José Escalante | |
| David Horst | Boniek García | |
| Rob Lovejoy | Mauro Manotas | |
| Cristian Maidana | Erick Torres | |
| Abdoulie Mansally | Andrew Wenger | |
| Raúl Rodríguez | Joe Willis | |
| Zach Steinberger | | |
| Collen Warner | | |
| Sheanon Williams | | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Miguel Aguilar | Emmanuel Boateng | Bradford Jamieson IV |
| Landon Donovan | Ashley Cole | Jack McBean |
| Rafael Garcia | A. J. DeLaGarza | Raúl Mendiola |
| Steven Gerrard | Clément Diop | Oscar Sorto |
| Alan Gordon | Giovani dos Santos | Jose Villarreal |
| Baggio Hušidić | Sebastian Lletget | |
| Robbie Keane | Robbie Rogers | |
| Dan Kennedy | Brian Rowe | |
| Jeff Larentowicz | Daniel Steres | |
| Ariel Lassiter | Jelle Van Damme | |
| Leonardo | Gyasi Zardes | |
| Mike Magee | | |
| David Romney | | |
Montreal Impact">Montreal Impact (MLS)">Montreal Impact
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Kyle Bekker | Hernán Bernardello | Louis Béland-Goyette |
| Patrice Bernier | Evan Bush | David Choinière |
| Amadou Dia | Victor Cabrera | Maxime Crépeau |
| Didier Drogba | Hassoun Camara | Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé |
| Kyle Fisher | Laurent Ciman | Anthony Jackson-Hamel |
| Eric Kronberg | Marco Donadel | Wandrille Lefèvre |
| Calum Mallace | Matteo Mancosu | |
| Dominic Oduro | Ambroise Oyongo | |
| Lucas Ontivero | Ignacio Piatti | |
| Michael Salazar | Andrés Romero | |
| Harry Shipp | Johan Venegas | |
| Donny Toia | | |
| Exposed | Protected | Exempt |
| Darrius Barnes | Juan Agudelo | Scott Caldwell |
| José Gonçalves | Teal Bunbury | Zachary Herivaux |
| Femi Hollinger-Janzen | Cody Cropper | |
| Brad Knighton | Diego Fagúndez | |
| Daigo Kobayashi | Andrew Farrell | |
| Jordan McCrary | Kei Kamara | |
| Steve Neumann | Gershon Koffie | |
| Bobby Shuttleworth | Xavier Kouassi | |
| Donnie Smith | Lee Nguyen | |
| Matt Turner | Kelyn Rowe | |
| Je-Vaughn Watson | Chris Tierney | |
| London Woodberry | | |