NWSL 2025 Pending Free Agency

Taylor Vincent
Taylor Vincent, Resident NWSL ExpertAugust 27, 2024
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Monday the NWSL released the preliminary list of 2025 free agents, and changes to the timeline for free agents to begin negotiations coming out of the new CBA release. Instead of occurring in October after the roster freeze and players only able to sign with new teams after the season ends, starting September 1st, players will be free to talk to other teams and can agree to terms with their current team, or a new team, at any time. Due to this pull in, the new deadline to exercise 2025 options is Friday August 30th and a new player list will be released at that time. 

This is a stepping stone as the league attempts to align with the FIFA regulations of giving players six months ahead of a contract ending to begin negotiations. Next year we can expect the free agency to open up in early July. 

There are some inconsistencies with the list that came out and the contract situations which are currently public. This points to the fact that there might be further announcements this week ahead of the new deadlines. The timing of this list coming before the Secondary Window closes on Friday as well as before the new deadline for options raises some questions. 

That being said, let’s look at the current contract situation for teams, and who has the most risk of roster turnover due to free agency. 


A look at the current risk of contract turnover. The three players whose extensions have not been announced but are not on the 2025 Free Agent list are not accounted for in Signed 2025. The six players who had 2025 options but appear as free agents in the league list are only included in the FA column, not the options column.  

North Carolina is currently leading the pack a little too well with 27 potential active players signed for 2025, this is due to SEIs/non-active roster players in 2024 being expected to join the active roster in 2025. Most of those players have contracts under the older CBA which differentiates between semi-guaranteed and guaranteed contracts. In order to remain under roster compliance, Courage will need to waive/ loan/trade at least one player. If they want to re-sign any of their current free agents, including Kerolin, or add in any other offseason talent, they’ll need available roster space.

Washington, Utah, and Orlando are all in a good zone with at least 20 returning players and space for exercising options  and signing free agents. There is a large group of teams—Bay, Gotham, Portland, Racing, Seattle—with at least 16 players signed through 2025, keeping their core potentially intact, but with a chance of some high turnover if they can’t get options approved and free agents re-signed. 

The bottom bucket of teams with 15 or less players signed through 2025 includes Angel City, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, and San Diego. Both Southern California teams have 15 players signed for next season, with a number of key parts of their starting lineup not locked down for 2025. Chicago is the median of the low-end group with 13 players signed, and seven potential free agents come September 1st. After three straight years of high turnover, it will be interesting to see how the Red Stars continue to evolve under the new ownership. At the very low end, Houston and Kansas City both have only 10 players signed through 2025, but are in very different positions in terms of recruiting and re-signing people—although surprisingly both teams are without a General Manager. Kansas City is third in the table, and has a brand new stadium that’s dedicated to the team, versus Houston who is currently 13th out of 14 teams  in the NWSL table and whose head coach has mysteriously never returned from his ‘illness’.

Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of days for more team announcements.

 

Related:

NWSL Transactions

NWSL Trade Tracker

 


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