Jackson Ragen and the Seattle Sounders have agreed to a new contract that will keep him in with his hometown team for the foreseeable future, Sounder at Heart has learned. Details of the contract were not yet available, but it is safe to say that he’ll be getting a significant raise on the $98,261 he was making this year.
The 25-year-old Seattle native was due to be out of contract at the end of the season. Although he doesn’t have the service time to be eligible for MLS free agency, he would have been free to sign with any other team around the world. The Sounders are likely paying him more than he’d have gotten if he tried his luck in Europe, but a move overseas would have potentially been a higher-upside gamble that could have gotten him closer to the United States national team.
Given Ragen’s emergence as a nearly automatic starter over the past couple of seasons and his age, retaining him was considered a high priority. The Sounders have been trying to get him signed to a longer term extension since at least last offseason, but finding a compensation level that both recognized his emergence as one of the league’s top passing centerbacks while also recognized that he was still a bit error prone proved to be a bit trickier than anticipated.
According to American Soccer Analysis, Ragen is rated as the best passing outfield player by xPass and has the highest passing rating in G+ among centerbacks. At the same time, he’s rated as just the 45th best centerback by overall G+, due in large part to his “interrupting” score, which is among the worst in the league.
Ragen has become a more complete player this year, especially on offense, where he scored his fourth goal across all competitions on Sunday. He also has an assist.
