The MLS Draft might be a thing of the past.

[USAF]

Before this year's Draft, Philadelphia Union traded away ALL their draft picks. Their Sporting Director was unimpressed with the college players at the MLS Combine -
http://www.philly.com/soccer/mls-sup...-20190110.html

Some MLS teams support Philadelphia Union's decision to trade away their draft picks & question the relevance of the present college draft "system" -
http://www.philly.com/soccer/mls-sup...-20190112.html

*Tracking the draft, over the past 3 years, I've noticed that some teams only draft players in the first 2 rounds & either trade or pass on picks in rounds 3 & 4.

[HL]

Oh yes!

Football is a pure sport. This reality has caught up to colleges being the major supplier of talent.

Basketball, baseball and "American football" must depend on the draft.

[USAF]

I think NFL is the only U.S. Pro League that's tied to college sports, especially since they don't have their own development league.......NBA, MLB & NHL don't need college sports.

*NBA: They once drafted high school players, but they "cut" a deal with NCAA, where high school players had to spend at least 1 year in college before entering the draft (the last year NBA drafted a high school player was when LaBron James entered the league). NBA also has a development league (NBA G League).

*MLB: They draft high school players & send them to their Minor League, for development. A good percentage of college players, who are drafted, spend some time in Minor League as well. Another advantage for MLB is that they get a lot of their players from Latin America.

*NHL: Majority of the players are drafted from Europe and U.S. & Canadian Junior Leagues. They also have their development league.

[Assasin]

The talent that comes out is as good as the talent that goes in. Most of these kids are from Top development clubs. Some year the talent is good other years it is not. Many of the top players in MLS currently are from the draft.

Some clubs make steal out of the draft as they mostly pay nothing for these players and can drop them even before the season starts. I can still remember Kamer Lawerence was not even picked up by any team and now he is one of the best defender in the MLS. Blake is one of the best keeper just to mention a few we know.

The NBA draft is even worst because after the first few picks it is a big chance. NFL is a bit different with talent in the first 3 rounds. Baseball draft picks are normally a 4 year projects.

[USAF]

The MLS Draft concluded today, with Rounds 3 & 4 - Of the 48 remaining draft picks, MLS teams used only 27. Teams chose to pass on 21 draft picks, rather than taking a chance on a player in the draft.......In 2018 MLS teams passed 11 times, 7 times in 2017 and 5 times in 2016.

[USAF]

Kemar Lawrence was never in any MLS Draft. His agent "shopped him to MLS" and NYRB brought him in for a preseason trial.

[USAF]

Also, this year marked the first time that a college player controlled which MLS team he wanted to go to - Dylan Castanheira, a highly rated goalkeeper out of Colombia U., wanted to go to Atlanta United, but was "up for grabs" if he entered the draft, so he skipped the MLS college combine & withdrew from the MLS Draft to sign with AUFC 2, who wanted him.

[Assasin]

I am pretty sure he went to the caribbean MLS tryouts at one stage. That is the reason why I included him.