D.C. United Approval Ratings: Clyde Simms

We're spending the first month or so of the D.C. United offseason grading each player on the roster with an approval rating. A vote for APPROVE means you were satisfied with the player's performance and want to see him back in D.C. next season. A vote for DISAPPROVE means you want United to move on without him. There is no middle ground, so please leave salary and contract implications out of your decision.

Its fitting that this would be Clyde Simms' last season with D.C. United.

Simms was the only remaining United player who had seen time under Piotr Nowak, Tom Soehn, Curt Onalfo, and Ben Olsen. He's seen the best and the worst that this team has to offer. When he joined the team, United was on the rise - in the playoffs, but not quite an MLS Cup contender. He rode D.C. up to help them win an MLS Cup, a Supporters' Shield, and a U.S. Open Cup, and then back down again to the lowest point in team history. Now as the team is once again on the rise, Simms was shown the door.

Simms played his role ably, but not outstandingly in 2011. He was a positive contributor in helping to slow down the opponents' attack, but not enough to keep United out of the bottom third in the league in goals allowed. The other problem is that he also helped slow down his own team's attack as well. Under previous regimes, the Clydewinder Missile was a deadly weapon still in development. As a member of Olsen's Army though, the funding for the CwM project was pulled. Simms became less and less involved offensively over the past few years, and with Perry Kitchen taking over the central defensive midfield position, its easy to draw the connection to why he wasn't re-signed, and why he's moving on to the New England Revolution.

Its fitting that this would be Simms' last season with United. It will be United's last season outside the playoffs.