Sporting Kansas City adds defender, winger in 2021 MLS SuperDraft

Sporting Kansas City added two college players Thursday afternoon via the MLS SuperDraft, selecting defender Matt Constant 50th overall and winger Jamil Roberts 77th overall.

Sporting passed on its third and final pick, 82nd overall, which was a compensatory pick at the end of the third round.

“I think we did OK,” Sporting KC technical director Brian Bliss said. “Obviously, we had a few other guys on the board that we had some interest in as well that were selected a little bit further ahead of us.

“We were somewhat realistic in what was going to become available to us based on not having a first-round pick and not wanting to give away too many assets in order to move up as well.”

Constant arrives from North Carolina, where he spent three years. Prior to that, he spent his freshman year with New Mexico.

He’s also competed with the U-20 Canadian National Team in World Cup qualifying as well as with the U-17 U.S. National Team.

A 6-foot-6 centerback with the ability to play with the ball at his feet, it’s a possibility that Constant can fight for a position on Sporting’s first team, which is looking incredibly slim since the departures of Matt Besler and Winston Reid.

But it’s more likely than not that Constant will begin his professional career with USL Championship affiliate Sporting Kansas City II. Not only has it been incredibly difficult for rookies to break into the first-team squad in KC, but there is fierce competition for spots at SKC II, including promising young Americans Danny Barbir and Kaveh Rad.

Centerback Graham Smith was also selected by Sporting KC in the first round of the 2018 draft and is yet to tie down a long-term starting spot, meaning it is unlikely Constant would be just ahead of him.

“I can’t say for sure if he’s going to make the team, but we’ll have to give him a serious look in that area and if it’s something that we think he needs more development, we still have our B team to try to get him too as well,” Bliss said. “I would consider him somebody that we want to take a better look at and run a ruler over.”

Sporting KC also had its eye on other centerbacks taken earlier in the draft, including Jackson Ragen (33rd to Chicago), Tom Judge (36th to Nashville) and CC Uche (41st to LAFC).

SKC’s second and final pick of the draft, Roberts, will find it even harder to break into the first team. Sporting KC has watched him since his sophomore year of college at Marshall. He also attended Sporting KC’s College Invitational Combine last November.

And although it looks like both Gerso Fernandes and Erik Hurtado won’t be returning to KC in 2021, the club still has multiple options who can play across the front line.

“Based on him being a forward too, it might be a little bit tougher to wedge him into our roster and all that, but I still think we need to look at him,” Bliss said. “But we know him from this local combine we had in November so we’ve got some more knowledge on him as well.”

One advantage that Roberts holds is the ability to play on both flanks, a trait that Sporting KC head coach Peter Vermes likes to see in his wingers. Although not incredibly fast, Bliss described Roberts as a “crafty” player.

Sporting also opted to pass on its final pick of the draft. The club received a 2021 fourth-round pick via a trade with Atlanta United in 2017, but because there was no fourth round in the 2021 draft, Sporting held one of five compensatory picks.

KC opted to pass on the pick because selecting a player would mean it would be obligated to bring the player on for preseason.

“With only five or six picks remaining at that point, at that point, you can just start inviting guys in if you want,” Bliss said.

“I don’t want to just boil it down to just money only, but the minute you draft a guy you’re on the hook to invite him into preseason and you’re on the hook for flights, hotels. And I don’t want to boil it down just to that but I think anybody else that’s left on the board can be an invitee.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City adds defender, winger in 2021 MLS SuperDraft."