INDIANAPOLIS -- Ted Thompson had the chance to re-sign Greg Jennings in 2012 and James Jones last offseason, and the Green Bay Packers general manager passed on both.

But during that process, it's a good bet Thompson said the same thing he did Thursday about another one of his receivers on the verge of free agency.

"I can't speak to those other fellas, but Randall Cobb is one of the guys we'd like to have on our team, yeah," Thompson said at the NFL scouting combine. "Just like several others."

But Jennings and Jones weren't coming off 91-catch, 1,287-yard, 12-touchdown seasons. And they weren't as young as Cobb, who won’t turn 25 until Aug. 22.

Cobb is one of the Packers' 14 pending free agents, but he's clearly the most important. He also might be the most difficult to re-sign. He's seeking a deal that averages at least $9 million per season. Last July, the Packers gave receiver Jordy Nelson a four-year extension that contained $39 million in new money.

Together, Cobb and Nelson became the first pair of teammates in NFL history to record 90-plus catches, 1,200-plus yards and at least 12 touchdowns in the same regular season and were just the third set of teammates in the same season with at least 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Thompson wouldn't say whether he would use the franchise tag on Cobb, although he has only used the tag twice (on defensive linemen Corey Williams and Ryan Pickett) since he became the GM in 2005 and it would cost the Packers around $13 million to do so with Cobb. Thompson has until March 2, eight days before free agency opens, to use the tag.

"Wouldn't speculate on anything like that," Thompson said.

Several times at the podium and later during a side session with reporters in the hallway at Lucas Oil Stadium, Thompson offered his typical, canned response to questions about re-signing players.

"We say the same thing every year [and] we mean it: It's no secret that we try to keep and maintain our own guys as much as possible," Thompson said. "We feel like that's a good investment for the organization. We feel like, especially, if we have good people like we do, we'd like to do that. We're trying to do that with Randall."

He said much the same thing when asked about perhaps the other free-agent priority, right tackle Bryan Bulaga, who came back after missing all of 2013 (knee) and the second half of 2012 (hip) to have one of his best seasons in 2014.

"Bryan has always been a good player for us, and, yeah, he had a good year," Thompson said. "He's another player that we’d like to have back."