Reacting to FC Dallas’ 2026 Roster Decisions
We’ve finally learned who is staying and who is going ahead of the 2026 season.
Let’s look at all the decisions and what they mean ahead of the offseason.
Options Exercised // Anderson Julio, Sebastien Ibeagha, Nolan Norris
Nolan Norris
Oh boy, lots of chatter on this one. Let’s get Nolan Norris out of the way – pretty much a no-brainer there, as long as he’s on his initial homegrown deal, he doesn’t even count towards the salary cap, and he is due for a pretty significantly increased role in 2026.
Anderson Julio
Anderson Julio is interesting. In the first half of the season, he was fantastic, often one of Dallas’ most important players offensively, but in the back half of the season, after switching to the 3-5-2, he really struggled to find his way. But clearly, Dallas saw enough in him in that first half of the season to keep him around. He also has his green card, so no usage of an international spot for him, which is a nice bonus, but he’s on a sizeable salary for someone who isn’t starting regularly. Wouldn’t be shocked if Dallas looks to trade him in the offseason.
Sebastien Ibeagha
And then there’s Ibby. Look, the guy is the scapegoat for the last few seasons. Whether it is deserved or not, he is a lightning rod for criticism due to his perceived lack of ability and his salary. I expected Dallas to try to bring him back, but on a reduced salary, but they went ahead and picked up the final year of his option.
My opinion of Ibeagha is complicated. I don’t think he’s particularly great; he’s poor on the ball, he’s lost half a yard of pace as he gets older, and is just generally a somewhat limited player. But with Eric Quill, we are looking at three consecutive coaches who trusted him to play almost constantly, and Quill even handed him the armband near the end of the season while others were out. Quill has noted his leadership qualities, and he is consistently available; he’s hardly missed any time for injury since arriving in 2023.
There is value in sticking with a known quality, even if there’s not a huge ceiling there. That said, it will be important that Ibeagha is not a game-in, game-out starter in the back in 2026 if Dallas wants to build on 2025.
Options Declined // Herbert Endeley, Sebastian Lletget, Pedrinho, Diego Pepi, Tomas Pondeca, Carl Sainte, Anthony Ramirez, Tarik Scott, Alejandro Urzua
Lletget’s decline was already known as he broke the news himself last week. Sad to see him go, he was a great player for most of his time here, but his age, salary, and injury concerns became too much to make sense to keep him around.
Most of the rest of these are no surprise: Herbert Endeley tore his ACL on loan and was clearly out of the picture, Diego Pepi always seemed like a reach of a signing and didn’t particularly impress on loan in USL League One, Tomas Pondeca never really seemed to get much of a look and couldn’t consistently get minutes in USL Championship and the writing was on the wall for Carl Sainte when his loan didn’t have a right of recall.
Anthony Ramirez, Tarik Scott, and Ale Urzua are a little bit surprising as homegrowns, though. They’re all still quite young and seemed to be on the fringes of the team, with a chance to push into some real minutes if they could make a jump, but it seems the staff has seen enough out of them and has decided to shift into some new homegrowns. Expect their bottom-of-the-roster spots to be filled with new homegrowns soon.
Pedrinho is maybe the most unexpected and, other than Lletget, contributed the most to this group. I really think the whole episode with Lucho in LA did him in; after that, it became clear Quill didn’t trust him. He didn’t start another game all season and was largely a bit-part player, aside from a couple of moments. Notably, he declined the opportunity to go into the re-entry draft, so it seems he has options abroad.
Contract Ended // Jacob Jackson
Lastly, the unlikely hero of a few games, Jacob Jackson, had his contract expire and will enter free agency. This always seemed the likely scenario; likely, whatever Dallas was willing to offer wasn’t significant enough, and he would test the waters of free agency.
With his performances, someone in MLS will be willing to at least give him a number two spot and maybe even compete for a starting role. I’m sure Dallas at least has an offer out for him if nothing else materializes. He’ll be a fun trivia question down the line. Best of luck to him going forward.
What are your thoughts on the roster decisions going into the offseason?
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Categorized:FC Dallas