After winning the 2025 U.S. Open Cup and signing Cristian Espinoza, Nashville SC have broken into the upper echelon of MLS teams. Seemingly every national pundit and most fans view the Boys in Gold as legit title contenders, something the club has never experienced so far.
Having All-Star players is nothing new to Music City; what is unprecedented is having the required depth to compete at the highest level.
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To foster healthy competition within the squad, players are generally divided into three tiers: starters, challengers, and rotation. In the past, Nashville often fell short in the second and third tiers, which led to their top talents being overworked and losing steam at the most crucial points of the season.
The rebuilt process led by General Manager Mike Jacobs and his staff is entering its second season, and the squad seems more well-rounded than ever before. In 2026, BJ Callaghan will have more quality choices at his disposal than ever.
Let's break down the depth of each position group!
Ben Wright
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For the sake of this exercise, we are only focusing on the front two. Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge dominated these two positions in 2025, each playing nearly 4,000 minutes. While they were largely impressive, it's unrealistic to expect the same output in minutes or goals while simultaneously competing in both Concacaf Champions Cup and Leagues Cup.
Not having suitable replacements was one of the main drivers for the two having the lion's share of minutes. For both positions, Teal Bunbury was the only other player for large stretches of the season. Academy product Adem Sipić was unable to break into the first team, and Tyler Boyd was mostly a non-factor after returning from injury. Realistically, this left Nashville with two starters and one rotation player for the whole season.
