New England Revolution SuperDraft Preview: Suddenly great, but plenty of need | Armchair Analyst

Matthew Doyle

Ahead of the 2015 SuperDraft, MLSsoccer.com is breaking down each team's needs and potential draft targets.
The New England Revolution are a month removed from a trip to MLS Cup, but they still have some holes to fill.

The New England Revolution will certainly come into 2015 as one of the MLS Cup & Supporters' Shield favorites, no matter what happens in Thursday's SuperDraft. And really, from a New England perspective "whatever happens" won't be a lot.

New England, you see, traded their first round pick. The guy the got for it -- Teal Bunbury -- gave Jay Heaps six goals and eight assists in nearly 3000 minutes across all competitions, while mastering a new position (target winger) and then playing it in a way that helped give the attack both shape and north-south speed.

Mock Draft: Pre-Combine Edition

They weren't going to get a better player than Bunbury on Thursday. So however it plays out, the 2015 SuperDraft goes down as a win for Heaps and everybody else in Foxborough.

Revolution SuperDraft selections: #33 (2nd Round), #47 (3rd round)

Revolution Depth Chart: 19 players

Goalkeeper (2): Bobby Shuttleworth, Brad Knighton
Left Back (2): Chris Tierney, Jeremy Hall
Center Back (2): Jose Goncalves, Andrew Farrell
Right Back (2): Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes
Defensive Midfield (2): Scott Caldwell, Andy Dorman
Center Midfield (2): Jermaine Jones, Daigo Kobayashi
Right Wing (2): Teal Bunbury, Tristan Bowen
Left Wing (2): Kelyn Rowe, Diego Fagundez
Attacking Midfield (2): Lee Nguyen, Steve Neumann
Forward (1): Charlie Davies

Primary Need: Center back

I took some liberties with positions along the backline, but I'm assuming that the departure of A.J. Soares makes this the year that Farrell finally slides inside and becomes a fulltime central defender. Between Alston, Barnes and Hall, New England have enough guys at right back to cover that move.

But three things are at play: First, even if Farrell moves to the middle, the Revs are still thin right there. Second, nobody can claim to be sure that Farrell will be an MLS-caliber central defender. He takes a ton of risks -- just like Goncalves -- and isn't great in the air. That can be a deadly combination.

And third? Third is that sources close to the team tell me Jones is going to want to play central defense more than just a bit. I still have him listed on the central midfield depth chart, but it's quite clear that moving to the back line is his path to the 2018 World Cup. And thus he'll want to get minutes learning how to play that spot for his club team.

Targets:Sergio Campbell (UConn), Daniel Keller (Louisville), Emeka Onyonye (Wright State)

Secondary Need: Forward

New England lost virtually all their forward depth this offseason, and while they may bring Andre Akpan back, there's little reason at this point to think he'll be able to share the load with Davies at a high level. They'll probably look to a young international for this spot, but if a player they like drops, they won't hesitate to pull the trigger at No. 33.

Targets:Dzenan Catic (Davenport), Andy Craven (North Carolina), Andrew Bevin (West Virginia), Rob Lovejoy (North Carolina)

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