D.C. United season review: Jared Jeffrey

Since arriving in D.C. in 2013, Jared Jeffrey had never been a regular starter. Until this season, he’d never started as many as 15 league games, and 21 league appearances was his career high. But this season saw him set a new career-high in both league appearances, with 23, and starts, with 19, and even though he’s not the flashiest player on the field, Jeffrey has qualities that make him important to the team.

Jeffrey spent much of 2017 entrenched as a central midfield starter. Through June he had started 14 of the team’s 17 league matches, but then he started five of the next nine through August 23rd, and then didn’t play again over the remaining eight games. Head coach Ben Olsen seemed…