CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 31: Nick Kwiatkoski #44 of the Chicago Bears sacks Cody Kessler #6 of the Cleveland Browns during a preseason game at Soldier Field on August 31, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Cleveland Browns need a quarterback. If only they could find one like Otto Graham.

The Cleveland Browns used to be one of the best teams in professional football.

Sure, most of us weren’t even close to being alive back then, but it’s true.

From 1946 to 1955, the Browns kicked some serious American football booty under owner (and former Ohio State head coach) Paul Brown, the same guy the team was actually named after. During that 10-season period, the Browns went to the league championship game (their Super Bowl) every year and won seven of them.

The main reason for their success?

Quarterback Otto Everett Graham.

Graham was the son of music teachers from Waukegan, Ill., and entered Northwestern University in 1940 on a basketball scholarship. (In fact, he was such a brilliant baller that right after World War II he played for the National Basketball League’s Rochester Royals, who won the league championship that year!)

But after Northwestern football coach Pappy Waldorf saw Graham throwing in an intramural football game his sophomore year, he invited Graham to play on the varsity football team. It was a good call as, in his first game, Graham ran back a punt for 90 yards and then ran and passed for two more touchdowns in a 51-3 victory.

Related: ESPN hits the mark with ranking of best Browns quarterbacks

By graduation, Graham held the Big Ten Conference record for passing yards with 2,132.

After World War II ended in 1945, Brown, who was coaching a team in Cleveland in the new All-American Football Conference, offered Graham, who had been serving in the Navy, a contract worth – wait for it – $7,500 per year. Turns out that translates to more $100,000 in modern bucks, so it was an incredibly large offer at that time, to which Graham quickly replied:

“Where do I sign?”

The Browns went 12-2 that season and won the first ever AAFC league championship.

According to his Wikipedia entry:

Graham’s play was crucial to Cleveland’s success. He averaged 10.5 yards per pass and had a quarterback rating of 112.1 in 1946, a professional football record until Joe Montana surpassed it in 1989. Graham was named the AAFC’s Most Valuable Player in 1947 and shared the Most Valuable Player award in 1948. He led the league in passing yards between 1947 and 1949. He was nicknamed “Automatic Otto” for his consistency and toughness.

The Browns won all four AAFC league championships before the league folded after the 1949 season. The Browns then joined the more established NFL and began kicking the same professional football booty there. With Graham at quarterback for 10 seasons, the Browns posted a record of 114 wins, 20 losses, and four ties, including a 9–3 won–loss record in the playoffs.

Graham, who was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965, was a relentless winner for Cleveland and the Browns have been desperately searching for their next “Automatic Otto” ever since.

The Browns came kinda-sorta close with Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar in the ’70s and ’80s, but since then it’s been 17 or so quarterbacks that seemed dangerously allergic to the win column. And this year the Browns front office must once again face the ghost of Graham and his 114-20-4 record and use their first round draft picks to find another relentless winner to turn this team around.

Thankfully, there are some excellent quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Sam Darnold from USC has the same no-drama temperament that made Graham a terrific leader in the huddle, Josh Rosen from UCLA has a lot of game smarts like Graham did, and Baker Mayfield from Oklahoma is as tough and competitive as Graham and the same height at 6-foot-1, though Mayfield does weigh 13 pounds more.

No matter whom the Browns front office picks, though, a lot of fans will be unhappy.

If it’s Darnold, some will say Rosen was more NFL ready. If it’s Rosen, some will say Darnold was better under pressure in the pocket. If it’s Mayfield, a lot of fans will say, “Here goes Johnny Manziel all over again,” even though they’re (probably) completely wrong. And when Browns fans watch the quarterbacks their team didn’t pick do well for other cities, there’s only one thing that will keep them from completely losing it:

If the guy the Browns did pick turns out to be a relentless winner.

General manager John Dorsey, vice president of football operations Alonzo Highsmith, assistant general manager Eliot Wolf and scouting consultant Scot McCloughan have all been hired to find the Browns their next Otto Graham.

No matter whom they choose in the upcoming draft, though, nobody will really know if it’s the right quarterback until head coach Hue Jackson and new offensive coordinator Todd Haley develop him into an NFL leader who’s ready to step out onto the field and win a few games for a change.

Until then, the ghost of “Automatic Otto” will continue to haunt the win-hungry Browns.