Each year at the Combine, General Manager Tom Telesco holds a Q&A in which he directly answers fan questions.

While he couldn't answer the hundreds that were submitted, he did answer important questions about the team's draft plans, free agency, players he expects to step up and more:

Q: At what point do you determine if you would rather draft a guy to fill a position as opposed to signing a free agent? – Adam Sonner

Telesco: That's a great question. We do our free agency and draft meetings before the Combine, and we try to line up how the draft board looks at a certain position and how free agent options look at certain positions. Since free agency is first, that can dictate sometimes where we go in the draft. We try and set the team after free agency that when we get into the draft, we don't feel like we have to draft a specific position. We feel like we can draft the best player rather than trying to fill certain positions. We don't have the same level of control in the draft as we do in free agency. So we make determinations by how our draft board looks and our free agency (board) looks, and you have to be flexible. Sometimes in free agency you are bidding against one other team or a lot of other teams, and the player decides to go somewhere else. So you can't say, 'Hey, we want to address this one position in the draft and this one in free agency.'

Q: Tom! What can you tell us about this new punter/kicker from the CFL Ty Long? Can he handle both? Just punt? Could he handle kickoffs so Money Badger can focus on field goals? I think it is an interesting signing. Keep doing the great work. #InTomWeTrust – Buck Holster

Telesco: He's an interesting prospect. He had a very good two-year career in the CFL. Up there he was their punter, kickoff guy and field goal kicker. And he really excelled at all three. We see him more as a punter right now, and we liked his game tape up there. He's actually a player who we did a lot of work on for the college draft when he came out a couple years ago. So we did a lot of work on him then, watched him in the CFL the last couple years, and then we brought him down and worked him out. He's got a really strong leg. He can also kick off really well. And obviously playing in the CFL, you have to get used to playing in difficult conditions, and we saw he could do that. We're looking forward to seeing him compete.

Q: I thought Rayshawn played really well in the playoffs when he started. How did you think he did, and might we see more of him in 2019? – Reynaldo Graves

Telesco: Yeah, I think there is a good chance you see a lot more of him in 2019. We used him in a lot of ways last season. Earlier in the year we had special packages for him, and late in the year he played more at safety. He really excelled in both. He did a great job on special teams. He really took ownership of that position. Rayshawn had a lot of different roles for us, and there's a good chance those get bigger next year.

Q: You mentioned maybe extending Melvin Gordon like we did with Casey Hayward. When you do start looking at that, and is that still in a possibility? – Trinity Phillips