I read a great story last week on si.com, Sports Illustrated’s website, on Gil Brandt, who served as the vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys for their first 29 years of existence from 1960-88.

It was about Brandt being the original draft expert with the way he led the way in instituting a computer system for the Cowboys to evaluate players consistently, regarding of the position. It was light years ahead of the curve. But because it was new and so different, even the best coaches in the game at the time scoffed at the idea that machines could have anything to do with moving the game forward.

Now computers and technology are so entrenched in the sport that it’s hard to imagine pro football without it.

The disbelievers also laughed at Browns head coach Paul Brown when he came up with the idea of playbooks, radio transmitters in helmets, year-round assistant coaches, a synchronized passing game, face masks on helmets and an emphasis on speed over power.

I thought of all this over the weekend in watching ESPN’s telecast of the NFL Draft. With the exception of Louis Riddick, a Browns safety during the Belichick years who knows better, the network’s “experts,” especially Mel Kiper, couldn’t have belittled the Browns and their analytics approach more if they had tried.

Browns Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome is a great, great general manager for the Baltimore Ravens, but Kiper, a lifelong Baltimore area resident and a huge Ravens fan, was over the top with his effusive praise of every draft decision Ozzie made.

Meanwhile, Kiper was dubious of everything the Browns did. They couldn’t do anything right.

Kiper is a good guy and a great draft analyst. He knows his football. But he is as blind as a bat to what’s coming down the road in analytics becoming the wave of the future. Analytics are to the game now what computers were when Brandt was working for the Cowboys.

Now, the Browns may not end up doing well with analytics. Maybe they will. I predict they will.

But regardless of what happens with Cleveland’s application of them, analytics are here to stay, and the longer teams wait to hop on board full-go with them, the farther behind the curve they will get.

So Kiper and the others can laugh at, deride and belittle the Browns all they want, but it won’t be long before those around the NFL are laughing at, deriding and belittling them.

You can count on it.

I betcha Gil Brandt is a believer.