A conservative reading of the New York Red Bulls’ options with regard to which players to protect from the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft suggested that the one truly difficult decision would be whether to risk either Hassan Ndam or Cristian Casseres falling into FC Cincinnati’s arms.
Red Bulls Sporting Director Denis Hamlett would appear to have had a similar line of thinking: RBNY’s official list of players protected from the Expansion Draft was essentially most of the team’s preferred 2018 starters, plus starter-in-waiting Ryan Meara, and Casseres.
| Exposed | Exempt | Protected |
|---|---|---|
| Exposed | Exempt | Protected |
| Anatole Abang (INTL) | Alex Muyl | Luis Robles |
| Vincent Bezecourt (INTL) | Derrick Etienne | Ryan Meara |
| Hassan Ndam (INTL) | Evan Louro | Tim Parker* |
| Aurelien Collin* | Ben Mines | Michael Murillo (INTL) |
| Kyle Duncan | Kevin Politz* | Kemar Lawrence |
| Fidel Escobar (INTL)* | Sean Davis | |
| Andreas Ivan (INTL) | Daniel Royer (INTL) | |
| Ethan Kutler* | Kaku (DP, INTL) | |
| Connor Lade | Bradley Wright-Phillips (DP) | |
| Carlos Rivas* | Cristian Casseres | |
| Marc Rzatkowski* | Aaron Long | |
| Florian Valot (INTL) | ||
| Brian White | ||
| Tommy Redding* | ||
| *Players out of contract per 2018 roster update |
So Ndam is arguably the most notable RBNY player exposed to FCC for the Expansion Draft.