Packers 2014 acquisition: Grading Green Bay's new and re-signed cornerbacks

Over the next two weeks, we will take a look at each position group on the Packers and provide grades and insight on how they performed in the 2014 season. Today, we'll be looking at the cornerbacks. Follow along with all of our positional breakdowns here.

No position on the Green Bay Packers' roster entered the 2014 season with more depth and talent than the cornerbacks. The Packers legitimately went four deep with quality options, five if you count Micah Hyde. Few teams in the post-free agency era can ever claim to possess that sort of wealth at corner.

Part of the reason for Green Bay's uncommon depth is their choice to re-sign one of their top cover men from a year earlier.

Sam Shields

How acquired: Signed in 2014 to four-year, $39 million extension

Stats: 40 tackles, nine passes defensed, two interceptions

Value: Though Sam Shields is no longer the project that arrived in Green Bay in 2010, he remains a somewhat unrefined and overly reliant on his speed. Still, most teams would salivate at the chance to land a premier athlete at one of football's most important positions. Though not as good as in past years, Shields held quarterbacks to a passer rating of 83.5 on balls thrown in his direction. He'll need to improve upon that moving forward to validate the big deal he signed last offseason, but he has the talent to do it.

Grade: B-

Demetri Goodson

How acquired: Drafted in sixth round (197th overall)

Stats: Six tackles

Value: Thus far, the Packers have only used Demetri Goodson on special teams during the regular season. He has the size (5-foot-11, 197 pounds) to become a contributor at cornerback, but he needs more time with position coach Joe Whitt before that happens. Still, this is a player the team choose to retain over Jumal Rolle, a talented defensive back who performed well in the preseason and caught on with the Houston Texans. If Green Bay loses both of its top free agent corners in free agency, Goodson will have a prime opportunity to seize playing time in training camp.

Grade: Incomplete