Dan Graziano joins SportsCenter to discuss how the Browns will handle the quarterback situation, not only in the draft but also in free agency. (0:53)

Amid all the chatter that followed the combine and the impressive work done by running back Saquon Barkley, one key question lingers about the draft’s first overall pick: Are the Cleveland Browns committed to taking a quarterback?

The answer comes in a question: How can they not be?

The Browns have not committed publicly to anything yet, saying they want to let the process play out. It’s what they have to do. If John Dorsey truly is willing to listen to trade offers, he can’t commit himself to anything -- even if the chances of trading the pick are miniscule.

They likely will use the pick, and every indicator points to the Browns drafting a quarterback first. The reason goes beyond the 28 starting quarterbacks the Browns have used since 1999, a stat that is troubling enough.

The Browns will take a quarterback at No. 1 because since the early years of the team’s expansion iteration it has not treated the most important position on the team with the importance it warrants.

History relates that the Browns have not committed to a true franchise quarterback since 1999. Experience relates that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The last time the Browns used a top-10 pick on a quarterback was when they took Tim Couch at No. 1 in 1999. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

All sorts of facts show how the Browns have never lived up to their promise to treat the quarterback with the importance the position deserves.

There’s the trades out of the spots where Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson were drafted, the reality that the past three quarterbacks drafted by the Browns were 22nd picks and that the last quarterback they took in the top 10 was Tim Couch in 1999.

Then there is this tidbit of brutal reality: Beginning with the 2008 draft, the Browns have drafted or had picks in the top 10 eight times. They traded down four times, and drafted players for other positions four times. Not once did the Browns use one of those top-10 picks on a quarterback.

The experience with free agency is just as fuzzy.

The team’s tendency has been to favor experienced players in the final years of their careers, good players who were either trying to extend or revive their careers.

In 2004 it was 34-year-old Jeff Garcia coming off five years in San Francisco. Trent Dilfer, 33, got an immediate contract extension after being acquired in 2005. Jake Delhomme, 35, was Mike Holmgren’s pick in 2010. Josh McCown, 36, joined in 2015. Robert Griffin III was 26 when he joined in 2016, but he was coming off a year without playing a down.

The average age of those added veterans: 31.

Their combined won-lost records with the Browns: 11-30.

The Browns did give chances to two young veterans who had some success. Derek Anderson went 10-5 and earned a $26 million contract extension after the 2007 season, but was part of an overall implosion after that season. Brian Hoyer had the Browns at 7-4 in 2014, but the team’s fascination with Johnny Manziel did in their entire season. On the recent “ThomaHawk Show” podcast with Andrew Hawkins and Joe Thomas, Manziel himself admitted he didn’t know why he was given starts that season.

Couch was the first overall pick of the expansion draft in 1999. He played five seasons, went 22-37 and was a key part of the team’s only playoff appearance since 1999. He was on an upward trend in his career until he broke his leg in the 2002 finale and Kelly Holcomb threw for 400-plus yards in the playoff loss in Pittsburgh. Couch and Holcomb were yo-yoed in and out of the lineup the next season, and after 2003 Couch was released. To this day, Bruce Arians maintains that Couch would have been a successful NFL player in the right situation.

Since that time the Browns have drafted quarterbacks in rounds six, four, three, one, three, one, one, three and two -- Spergon Wynn, Luke McCown, Charlie Frye, Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden, Manziel, Cody Kessler and DeShone Kizer. None were taken higher than 22nd overall.

Since 2007, the Browns started the draft process with the fifth, seventh, sixth, third, sixth, fourth, 12th, second, first and 12th picks.

2018 NFL DRAFT Round 1: Thursday, 8 p.m., ESPN/ESPN App

Rounds 2-3: Friday, 7 p.m., ESPN/ESPN App

Rounds 4-7: Sat., noon, ESPN/ABC/ESPN App

Where: Arlington, Texas

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That’s eight picks in the Top 10, and 10 in the top 12. Not a single one was used on a quarterback.

In 2015, they traded the second overall pick and wound up with receiver Corey Coleman in the first round when the pick they traded was used for Wentz. They traded the fourth overall pick in 2014 and wound up with cornerback Justin Gilbert; Buffalo drafted WR Sammy Watkins with the pick they acquired. In 2011, the pick the Browns traded turned out to be receiver Julio Jones; the Browns took defensive tackle Phil Taylor in round one. And in 2009 the Browns took center Alex Mack after trading out of a pick that became quarterback Mark Sanchez.

The only time they took quarterbacks was when they took Quinn (’07), Weeden (’12) and Manziel (’14) with the 22nd overall pick.

This isn’t to say that every pick the Browns made was bad, or that every trade turned out poorly. Myles Garrett as the first overall choice in 2017 looks like an excellent pick; Mack played well for the Browns for years.

But the clear pattern the Browns have established has been to talk about how important the quarterback position is, but not to treat it as such.

This offseason the Browns have a chance to fix that mistake. They can decide on the quarterback they want, and take him. They can address the position in the draft and in free agency and with Kizer on the roster truly give it quality and depth.

A team can’t draft based on what was done in the past, but ignoring the past ignores reality. Yes, teams can find quarterbacks in different ways, but the Browns' approach has not worked.

It’s vital that the Browns take advantage of this opportunity to finally, at long last, address a position that has been a glaring need for years.