Having this process is something Alexander says has proven to give results throughout his career, as it gives the team a chance to further strengthen a part of the team in the present and future.

“Nine times out of 10, the way I see it and throughout my career, those are the players that work out the best,” Alexander said. “When you have a general consensus, everyone across the board likes him, regardless of the position.”

Alexander later added: “You always want to take the highest player available, with in mind players you’ve already selected and players you might have as strengths on your team and on your roster.”

Hortiz gave some more insight on the process between free agency and the draft on the podcast as well, adding that while there is a relation between the two, the ultimate goal is to try and get the best player available.

“It can [correlate with the draft]. That’s knowing the draft,” Hortiz said on the podcast. “The way we do it, we meet on the draft then we stack free agent meetings afterwards.

“If we got a position on the board that we feel is thin and it marries up with a position that’s deeper in free agency, yeah you can maybe put a little bit more effort into signing that position in free agency to help give you some flexibility in the draft versus saying, ‘Hey, we got to take [this],'” Hortiz continued.

“That’s what you don’t want, you don’t want to be stuck in the draft saying, ‘We have to take X,'” Hortiz added. “You use free agency to fill out, build the roster, get a gap and then it allows you to hit the draft like, ‘We have this player, we signed him,’ but it’s not going to stop you from going to get a rookie at the same position.”