Rather have draft before free agency?

(Editor’s Note: Time to check the mail! The DallasCowboys.com staff writers answer your questions here in ‘Mailbag’ presented by Miller Lite.)

Would you rather have the draft before free agency starts, like every other major sport? In the draft you are regulated to who is available at the time your turn comes up. But then knowing what you have and need, free agency would then allow you to go get any player you wanted, as long as you have the money? – Billy Merritt/Pearland, TX

Patrik: No sir, no way, no how. I view free agency as a way to resolve glaring issues on the roster, with proven veterans, before looking to the draft and asking a rookie to be “the guy” from the moment he steps onto an NFL field. Putting the draft before free agency undermines that whole thought process, in my opinion. There’s the added component of draft prospects needing the weeks following the previous collegiate season to try and raise their stock to teams by way of the NFL Combine and Pro Days, not to mention the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl. The calendar, as it stands, is perfectly set up for teams to build their rosters with veterans (free agency) while also scouting prospects who are going through the paces to become an NFL player in later April (NFL Draft). Football isn’t like every other major sport, for better or for worse, but I think this is for the better.