GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It took less than 24 hours for the Packers' quarterback of the future to connect with the quarterback of the present.
Jordan Love, the Packers' first-round pick in the NFL draft, told ESPN's Maria Taylor on Friday that he and Aaron Rodgers had a good first interaction.
"Yeah, I was able to talk with him earlier," Love said. "You know, really good guy. [He was] just congratulating me, and I was just letting him know that I was excited to be able to work with him."
A source said Rodgers initiated the conversation.
Love, the 26th pick in the draft after the Packers traded up to choose him Thursday, is viewed as the eventual replacement for Rodgers, though general manager Brian Gutekunst initially said that touting Love as the future franchise quarterback is "probably not fair. I don't think you can put that on him right now."
Rodgers, 36, has yet to comment publicly on the Packers' decision to draft a quarterback in the first round just months after they completed a 13-3 season that ended one game short of the Super Bowl and during an offseason in which many thought the Packers would get Rodgers a weapon or two -- specifically a wide receiver -- early in the draft. The Packers picked Boston College running back AJ Dillon in the second round, and he could be an eventual replacement for Aaron Jones, who is heading into the final year of his contract.
Some took Rodgers' silence on social media as a statement on his feelings about the pick, but a perusal of Rodgers' social media accounts from the past two years showed no posts about previous draft picks.
Love told Taylor that he plans to study Rodgers closely.
"It's a lot of things to be able to learn," he said. "I'm just gonna take it step by step. Just trying to get behind him, learn everything he's doing and understand the process."
Gutekunst, who said he did not speak with Rodgers before he picked Love, said Friday that he talked to Rodgers after the first day of the draft concluded.
Asked whether he anticipated any problems with Rodgers or between the quarterbacks, Gutekunst said, "I don't think so. He's always been a true pro, a pro's pro and a really, really good teammate. I know what his goals are, so I don't."
Gutekunst faced similar criticism to that of his mentor, Ted Thompson, after Thompson picked Rodgers in the first round of the 2005 draft, even with Brett Favre still on the roster. Back then, however, Favre had waffled on how much longer he would play, as opposed to Rodgers, who has said repeatedly that he plans to play out the final four years of his contract (through the 2023 season) and possibly beyond. Rodgers sat behind Favre for three seasons before he took over as the starter in 2008.
The pick of Love -- and, to some extent, the Day 2 selections of Dillon and tight end Josiah Deguara (third round) -- was perceived by some as a choice that wouldn't help a team that was one game away from the Super Bowl last season get over the hump.
"I know there's a lot been made about us drafting a quarterback in the first round and how it affects Aaron, and in my mind, it doesn't really affect him that much," Gutekunst said. "He's still the quarterback of this team, and he will be for a while, and we'll hopefully compete for championships. But I think, like anything, you do the work, you set the board, you've got to trust your work and allow that to kind of speak to you a little bit. Today, I did think we added some weapons that can help immediately."