GREEN BAY — Jordan Love’s interactions with his new rookie wide receivers have been limited to a few congratulatory welcome-to-the-team and not much more than that.

So while the Green Bay Packers quarterback took notice when general manager Brian Gutekunst took the two wideouts — Texas’ Matthew Golden in the first round and TCU’s Savion Williams in the third — during the 2025 NFL Draft, Love is holding off on any grand pronouncements until he, you know, actually meets them in person.

“They were actually doing rookie minicamp this past weekend, and we (veterans) weren’t here for that,” Love explained Wednesday afternoon during the announcement of the 25th annual Green Bay Charity Softball Game on May 23 at Fox Cities Stadium, an event that will benefit Love’s Hands of 10ve Foundation.

“I briefly shot all those guys a text after they got drafted, just congratulating them, telling them to get ready for work. But I think next week, once they get back in the building with us, we’ll have some more communication and be able to see what those guys are all about.

“But I’m excited to get to work with them.”

The feeling is mutual.

The rookie minicamp consisted mostly of walkthroughs and meetings, with one quasi-practice on Saturday that lasted just over an hour and was limited to individual drill work, as the rookies arrived on Thursday just as the vets were leaving.

Among the 38 players in attendance — eight draft picks, 10 undrafted free-agent signees, 11 tryout players and nine holdovers from the roster — tryout quarterback Taylor Elgersma was the only QB there, and he didn’t throw a single pass to Golden or Williams, who spent the session working with offensive passing-game coordinator Jason Vrable and wide receivers coach Ryan Mahaffey.

Instead, Elgersma threw to coaches and an equipment staffer and into nets, while the receivers working on their line-of-scrimmage releases and other footwork drills.

But both Williams and Golden spoke of how exciting it was to hear from Love after their selections and much they were looking forward to hooking up with him.

“He just sent me a message like right after I got drafted, and I can’t remember exactly what he said, but he was welcoming me to the team and everything,” an excited Williams said. “(When) your quarterback texts you, it feels great, man.

“(He’s) a great quarterback and I can’t wait to work with him.”

Said Golden: “He texted me literally right after I got drafted, congratulated me and just told me ‘It’s time to go to work.’”

Asked what he wrote back to Love, Golden replied, “(I said), ‘I’m ready. I’m ready.’ I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life. To be here, I’m going to let my presence be known and I’m going to come in here and compete.”

Love, who is heading into his third season as the Packers starter after his three-year apprenticeship behind four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, went into the draft with some existing pass-catching weapons, certainly.

But there was an argument to be made that his best existing weapon in the passing game was going to be tight end Tucker Kraft, who caught 50 passes for 707 yards and a team-best seven touchdowns last season.

At receiver, meanwhile, Love already knew he’d be without Christian Watson, who is recovering from a torn ACL in his right knee suffered in the regular-season finale against Chicago.

There are also questions about Romeo Doubs, who sustained two late-season concussions and was suspended for one game earlier in the year because of conduct detrimental to the team after he stayed home from work to demonstrate his unhappiness with his role and didn’t tell anyone.

Third-year wide receivers Jayden Reed and Dontavion Wicks are also heading into pivotal Year 3 seasons after Reed led the Packers in catches (55) and receiving yards (857) for the second straight season but disappeared late in the year and Wicks struggled with drops during the first half of the year before getting the problem under control down the stretch.

“I think anytime you add competition to a room, that’s a good thing for our football team,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s going to be a competitive room — we all know that, and I think that’s a positive. Our guys have got to embrace that competition and if they attack it the right way, I think collectively we’ll continue to improve.”

It’s impossible to predict how much impact Golden and Williams, who nearly played together in college when Golden came to TCU on a visit and was hosted by his future Packers teammate, will have as rookies. But they’ll have opportunities, and that should only help Love, whose stat line dipped last season after his blazing finish down the stretch in 2023.

Dealing with knee and groin injuries that forced him to miss 2 1/2 games, Love finished 2024 having completed 63.1% of his passes for 3,389 yards with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for a passer rating of 96.7, which ranked him 11th among qualifying quarterbacks. He admitted during Super Bowl week that both he and the offense were too “inconsistent” throughout the year.  

But after the Golden pick, LaFleur FaceTimed with Love and that Love told him he was ready to “get that arm loose” for his new targets.

“You always want to connect with the quarterback when you give him some pieces,” LaFleur said of the call. “I’d say you can never have enough weapons around a quarterback.”

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