For anyone accustomed to following the Seattle Sounders, this has been a strange offseason. While most offseasons are full of turnover that tend to leave the roster in a state designed to be supplemented in the summer, the current roster is both remarkably familiar and settled.
As the Sounders head into the final stage of preseason before their first competitive match on Feb. 17, they already have 27 players signed to first-team contracts and that’s after unexpectedly trading away Brad Smith last week.
The vast majority of those players were with the Sounders last year, as well.