Where we left off last year
2025 season: 41 points, 11th in the Western Conference, 21st in MLS
Last season was a big, fat bummer for the Rapids. They regressed from 2024, failed to dominate territory like they had a year prior, shipped their best player in Djordje Mihailovic off to another team in the league, and missed the playoffs in a wildly weak West.
Now, Colorado did make some significant summer additions, adding Paxten Aaronson as a Designated Player No. 10 and signing Rob Holding in hopes of rediscovering some of the central defensive dominance that left with Moise Bombito. Oh, and Kevin Cabral was waived, clearing a path to an open DP spot or a chunk of extra allocation money. 2025 wasn't all bad, then. But it was mostly bad.
What changed in the offseason
Notable arrivals:
- Matt Wells, manager: It worked for Minnesota United with Eric Ramsay, why couldn’t it work for the Rapids? While Colorado’s thinking behind hiring an assistant coach at a big-name Premier League club went deeper than that, Wells is following a Ramsay-esque path to MLS. The 37-year-old, who is the second-youngest coach in the league, arrives in the U.S. after serving as an assistant at Tottenham.
- Dante Sealy, W: There’s more General Allocation Money floating around MLS than ever before. But even accounting for GAMflation (that’s right, we’re in the weeds, people, what are you going to do about it), Colorado spending $1.9 million in GAM plus add-ons to acquire Sealy from CF Montreal surprised me. The 22-year-old left-footer had a promising year in Canada in 2025. Can the Rapids get even more out of him this year?
