Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Packers earn high praise for free agency

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Want to know how to earn high marks in free agency?

Just do what the Green Bay Packers have done.

The ESPN Insider team of Mike Sando, Bill Polian, Louis Riddick, Matt Williamson and Field Yates put together team-by-team report cardsInsider for the signing period that opened two weeks ago, and guess who earned the only "A" grade?

Yup, it was the only team that had not signed a single free agent from another team.

General manager Ted Thompson may have flirted with the idea of signing high-priced cornerback Darrelle Revis, but in the end he did what he usually does: He signed his own key free agents.

"They did a great job keeping their own and that is really all there is to say about it," Polian said of Thompson's moves to bring back receiver Randall Cobb and right tackle Bryan Bulaga.

Yates called it "a classic Ted Thompson offseason."

By re-signing their top two free agents, the Packers now have more flexibility in the draft, according to Williamson.

Only three other teams got grades in the "A" range, and all three -- the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins -- received slightly lower marks than the Packers with A-minuses.

Of the Packers' NFC North foes, the Chicago Bears (B-plus) received the highest mark followed by the Detroit Lions (B-minus) and Minnesota VikingsĀ (B-minus).

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