Oakland Roots announced they signed veteran midfielder Tyler Gibson to a contract on Thursday.
Gibson, 33, marks the second incoming signing for Roots after adding Kai Greene in recent weeks. Similar to Greene, Gibson comes to Oakland with a leadership background on his previous team.
Adding veteran experience seems to be trend for head coach Gavin Glinton. The coach countlessly commented about building a culture in his vision. With Greene and Gibson’s league stature, the hope is Glinton’s Roots can become ‘mentality monsters.’
“Tyler is a top veteran in this league,” Glinton said. “His experience over more than a decade at this level in US Soccer will be invaluable to us. His leadership and knowledge of the league is going to be huge to our 2025 team.”
Director of Player Personnel Nana Attakora also described Gibson’s leadership qualities as a “major point” toward the culture they plans on instilling within the roster.
“His leadership qualities are a major point for our side as we start building a new culture. Tyler has played along side some top players and brings a level of professionalism that is needed for such a young club,” said Attakora, who was Gibson’s teammate with the San Francisco Deltas in 2017.
Gibson fits into the mold of defensive-minded midfielder with long-passing capabilities like Rafa Baca and Camden Riley, along with Greene being a successful long passer out of the back. When asking Attakora about Gibson’s skills as a passer, the executive responded they considered more than just certain qualities when signing players and feels he can line up “anywhere in the central midfield.”
“We consider all qualities when looking at players… Tyler is a veteran leader who can play anywhere in the central midfield and has experience winning,” Attakora said.
Gibson fills the midfielder role vacated by fellow veteran Napo Matsoso. If Oakland calls up a Project 51O player to the midfield, like Roberto González, they would be up to five central midfielders. Attakora wouldn’t say whether Roots are done as the position.
“Roster building is always on going. We are always looking at every position throughout the year at all times,” Attakora said.
So what are Oakland Roots getting in the veteran?
The stats will show Roots aren’t gaining a goal-scorer in Gibson, totaling just three goals and six assists through 10 professional years. In fact, he never averaged more than 0.44 chances created per game throughout his time in the USL Championship. What they are getting, however, is a solid passer and defensive option to replace Matsoso while complementing Baca and Riley.
Gibson averaged 1.82 accurate long balls per game in 938 minutes compared to Napo’s 1.10. Although 2024 marked a down year for Gibson, Roots could look to regain his 2022 form with Louisville City when he averaged 4.16 long ball completions per game.
Defensively, Gibson provides a step up on his tackling efficiency, winning 77.8 percent of his tackles to Matsoso’s 64.8 in 2024.
Glinton’s system proved to be at its best when it prevented teams from moving in transition and win the ball in advantageous areas. Gibson was in the top 14 percentile of disallowing attackers to dribble past him with just 0.38 per 90 minutes to Napo’s 1.76. Similarly in 2023 when Gibson played 2,442 minutes for LOU City, Gibson permitted just 0.40 dribbles past him compared to Matsoso’s 1.80 that season.
Gibson also provides an improvement over Riley and Baca in that regard with both players allowing 1.31 and 0.91 dribbles past them per game respectively last season.
Gibson played collegiately with the Charlotte 49ers from 2009-2013 before starting his professional career with the NASL’s San Antonio Scorpions in 2015. He caught on with Rayo OKC the following year before joining the San Francisco Deltas in 2017, winning the NASL Title alongside Attakora.
From there, he signed with FC Cincinnati while it was in the USL and then joined Indy Eleven for 2019-2020. He joined Louisville City from 2021-2023 and returned to Indianapolis in 2024.
For his career, Gibson has appeared in 233 matches for 185 starts, recording three goals and six assists in 16,726 total minutes.
Here’s our tracker for every Oakland Roots roster move this offseason.