The worst No. 1 overall picks in MLS SuperDraft history

The 2016 MLS SuperDraft is upon us at long last and the Chicago Fire are set to select Georgetown University defender Joshua Yaro as the first overall pick, if all signs and predictions come to fruition. It's a label Yaro will certainly wear with pride, but not one that has historically been indicative of a quality career.

Not every first pick can enjoy a success story like Cyle Larin's in Orlando, after all.

With that in mind, here are the five worst No. 1 selections in the history of the MLS SuperDraft:

5) Andre Blake - Philadelphia Union, 2014

Not for nothing, but Andre Blake is probably a pretty good goalkeeper playing for a Philadelphia Union team that absolutely ruins the careers of "pretty good goalkeepers." The Union have run through almost 20 different net-minders since joining the league in 2008, including Blake, who still hasn't established himself as the preferred No. 1 at the club.

4) Steve Zakuani - Seattle Sounders, 2009

Sometimes, a player's career can be tainted by a lack of effort or a lack of growth, poor attitudes, or from being over-hyped. And then, there was Steve Zakuani, selected by the expansion Seattle Sounders in 2009. He began his career like a firecracker, bursting onto the scene, playing and scoring with a smile on his face. Zakuani was set to be a star, on and off the field; he scored 14 goals and recorded 10 assists in his first two seasons with the club.

Then, tragedy struck. During a routine match in 2011 against the Colorado Rapids, Zakuani was involved in a horror tackle with Patrick Mullins, fracturing his tibia and fibia and ending his season entirely.

Zakuani did forgive Mullins for the tackle, but could never fully recover, despite undergoing a series of injections, MRIs, surgeries, painkillers, and visits to the hospital, and retired at only 26 years old.

3) Nikolas Besagno - Real Salt Lake, 2005

Nikolas Besagno joined Real Salt Lake at 16 years of age, a fresh-faced teenager hungry for a career in professional soccer. In the four years that followed, the club became a force in MLS, winning the 2009 MLS Cup, while Besagno stagnated on the bench.

He made just eight appearances in those four years, eventually getting cut and joining lower-league American teams. Perhaps he was drafted too young, or never found an opportunity with RSL, but in either case, his is the story of a No. 1 draft pick who never really got his career moving. Speaking of which ...

2) Omar Salgado - Vancouver Whitecaps, 2011

It's not so much that Omar Salgado never got going at the Vancouver Whitecaps as much as it seemed he never really wanted to try; the Mexican-American striker was wishy-washy on joining the league in the first place, keeping one eye in Europe and in Mexico as well, then joined the Whitecaps in the team's inaugural season.

He inexplicably stuck around for four seasons, making just 29 appearances in that time, then signed for Tigres in Liga MX in 2014. One must wonder, with the proper desire to succeed, if this striker would have thrived in MLS.

1) Freddy Adu - D.C. United, 2004

Perhaps the highest-profile bust in the history of soccer, Freddy Adu joined D.C. United at just 14 years of age, heralded as the American Pele, and quickly fizzled out into mediocrity. Adu has played for 13 clubs in eight different countries, each progressively more obscure than the last, including stints in Serbia, Greece, and Finland.

It's not unheard of for players to travel the globe, but no player has ever commanded so much attention and hype only to squander it quite like Adu. Nowadays, he's enjoying his football playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies while peddling vacuums on the side.