Another One Bites the Dust: Bilal Duckett Waived by Whitecaps

The Expansion Draft day remodeling of the Vancouver Whitecaps has been a bit more extensive than anticipated as the club just announced this afternoon that it has waived defender Bilal Duckett.

Duckett is 22 years old and turns 23 this coming January. A third-round pick in the last MLS SuperDraft, Duckett drew praise early in his Whitecaps career for his athleticism and versatility: he's spent time at left back, right back, and centre back and didn't look uncomfortable at any of those positions. Quick, tall, lean but strong, Duckett got the #3 shirt out of preseason and was a prominent, if unused, part of the Whitecaps bench early in the year.

Unfortunately, he didn't improve. Duckett always handled the ball like a live grenade and, in brief snippets of MLS action, looked completely out of his depth and unable to cope on either side of the ball. In MLS Reserves action he seemed a step behind almost everybody; confidence in Duckett was so low that the Whitecaps chose to try guys like Jeb Brovsky, John Thorrington, and Russell Teibert as fullbacks rather than give Duckett an extended run in the first team.

As such, this waiving is no surprise and while it may not be the end of the line for Duckett's professional career, it's certainly hard to picture him surfacing in MLS again. Best of luck all the same.