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SANDY — The dreads are still dead (long live the dreads); Kyle Beckerman still finds himself giving a second glance every time he passes a mirror since the fateful day at the end of the 2017 season when he cut his iconic dreadlocked hair.
But Beckerman's career with Real Salt Lake is far from finished.
Yes, the RSL team captain who briefly courted free agency is staying home.
Real Salt Lake announced a multi-year contract extension for the 35-year-old midfielder and team captain Tuesday morning, settling a free-agency chase for one of the club’s all-time best midfielders in 2018 in the week leading up to Friday's MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia.
The native of Crofton, Maryland, will enter his 12th season with Real Salt Lake when the club kicks off the 2018 season March 3 in Dallas, with the longest tenure of his professional soccer career.
And even if he wasn't born here, the Salt Lake Valley has become "home" for Beckerman, who married his wife Kate (a Utah native) at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Salt Lake City in 2014.
"The season is a really long season, and when you get some time off, you might travel — but you are living here in the community," Beckerman told reporters after training Tuesday. "My wife is from here, and I feel like it’s home. I’m from Maryland, but I’ve been here for 12 years and it just feels like home. It feels comfortable."
Terms of the new deal were not disclosed, per team policy, but it is believed RSL will keep the longtime RSL leader in Salt Lake City for the remainder of his career. Beckerman reportedly held interest from "multiple" other MLS teams, but chose to remain in Salt Lake City with second-year head coach Mike Petke.
"I wanted to be here. I had some really good conversations with Mike and (RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen) throughout the season and their vision aligned with mine with where we want to see this club," Beckerman said. "We want Real Salt Lake to be successful for years and years going forward, even when I am gone.
"Now is the time to fill up the trophy cabinet. It feels like this is the right place for me."
Beckerman cements a midfield that is in transition, but also adds valuable experience to an RSL side that recently re-signed wingers Jefferson Savarino and former RSL Academy star Brooks Lennon to full-term contracts. His close friend, goalkeeper Nick Rimando, is also in the midst of free-agent discussions, but is expected to re-sign with RSL, according to a report by Goal.com's Ives Galarcep.
It's a young core that RSL prioritized during an offseason of uncertainity, when the club also brought in Premier League fullback and Spanish striker Alfredo Ortuno to add to a team that was, at one point in 2017, the hottest team in Major League Soccer.
"As time went on, Mike’s personality started to rub off on the team," Beckerman said. "The way we ended last season, playing playoff teams and being right there — if we can get some consistency this year, we should be in the playoffs and have a chance to win some trophies. But everyone believes that right now, that they have a chance to work."
Amongst the changes, signings and wheeling-and-dealing by agents, Real Salt Lake felt it had to keep Beckerman, too.
"I cannot imagine an RSL team next year without Kyle here, without Kyle with the armband on," Petke said of Beckerman, who had four goals in 26 matches in 2017. "I think that he is iconic here in Salt Lake, and that he is one of the best players in the history of this league. And I think he deserves and will earn anything that he gets.
"There will be a statue here of Kyle one day. It’s a no-brainer that Kyle is back; we couldn’t do this without him."
A product of Florida's IMG Academy in U.S. Soccer's earliest days of a now-defunct full-time national team residency program, Beckerman began his pro career in 2000 with the now-defunct Miami Fusion. After the team folded in 2001, he was allocated to the Colorado Rapids in the 2002 MLS dispersal draft, where he began a long career in the Mile High City that included 10 goals in 145 appearances over six seasons.
Then on July 16, 2007, everything changed.
Beckerman was traded to Real Salt Lake, coming to the newly branded Utah squad in exchange for midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy, in arguably the most pivotal trade the club has ever made. He started 38 matches immediately, became the youngest player in MLS history to reach 200 career appearances, and teamed up with Rimando and former RSL teammate Javier Morales to lead RSL to its greatest milestone in team history — the 2009 MLS Cup championship.
Since arriving in Salt Lake City, Beckerman was invited to MLS All-Star games, earned his way into the U.S. men’s national team picture during two World Cup qualifying cycles, and helped his club team to a CONCACAF Champions League final appearance in 2011.
"Along with a few other guys, he has defined our organization for quite some time," RSL general manager Craig Waibel said in a club statement. "He also defines and embodies the movement of where we are going. He has embraced this evolution and he’s excited about the moments to come and the moments to share with fans. All that added up makes it a really special thing for us to be able to re-sign him."
At the end of the 2017 season, his contract with the club expired. But neither he nor Waibel expressed much concern in public about coming to terms on a new deal, including during RSL exit interviews this past season, where he unveiled his new haircut but left his contract negotiations shrouded behind an aura of mystery.
The same suspense was given to Rimando, MLS's all-time leader in virtually every goalkeeping statistic who entered free agency on the same day as Beckerman.
And though the Southern California native was reportedly courted by both MLS clubs in Los Angeles, Beckerman is confident that Rimando will also return for another year in Claret-and-Cobalt.
"I just saw him for the first time, and it looks good," Beckerman said of Rimando, who was at Rio Tinto Stadium on Tuesday while most of RSL's staff is in Philadelphia for the draft and accompanying coaches' convention. "I don’t know details, but I’m hopefully that it will be done shortly.
"Hopefully everything is all done, and you guys just haven’t heard about it."
