The Green Bay Packers have a tradition where players ride bicycles to and from practice during training camp, which has been going on for a long time. As a kid, Kyle Steuck parked his bike outside the team’s training facility, hoping one of the players will pick him up for the traditional ride. Now, he is a member of the Packers who has young kids hoping he picks one of them for the ride. NFL free picks have the Packers winning the NFC North, but the team still has to contend with the Minnesota Vikings, who won the division last year.
Steuck, who grew up in Green Bay and went to high school five miles from Lambeau Field, signed with the Packers on Saturday and made his practice debut with the team on Sunday. He told reporters after practice that playing for the Packers is a big deal for someone that grew up in the town. He said he remembered going to practice and hoping one of the players grabs his bike, now he is the one grabbing a kid’s bike, and called it a dream come true.
As a home-grown talent, there was a lot of local media members around Steuck in the area of the Packers locker room where undrafted players change. Several Packers players wondered what all the commotion was about until tight end Casey Pierce told them that Steuck was from Green Bay.
Punter Peter Mortell said he spoke with Steuck in the morning before practice and told him to take it all in. Martell also told Steuck that he was going to feel overwhelmed a little, so he needed to take a step back and just soak it all in.
Mortell told reporters he knows a little about what Steuck is going through because he is also from Green Bay. The punter added that he thinks it’s cool to have players from the area on the team and hopes it inspires other Green Bay kids because he and Steuck are living their childhood dreams right now playing for the Packers.
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters he thinks the situation is funny because the first eight years he spent with the team, they didn’t have a player from the state of Wisconsin on the team. Now, it’s like the team has an overflow of players from the state and the city they play in.
McCarthy added that it has to be great to play for your hometown team, especially in a city like Green Bay where the fans are very passionate about their team. The coach also said he hopes Steuck takes full advantage of the unique opportunity he has been given.
Like Kyle Steuck, Mortell hung around the Packers as a kid, but had more access to the players because his grandfather was the Lambeau Field clock operator during home games, which is something his father does now.
Steuck was signed by the Packers after injuries decimated the center position. Starting center Corey Linsley remains on the physically unable to perform list because of a hamstring injury. Jacob Flores and Matt Rotterdam have also been unable to practice because of injuries, leaving the team with a few healthy centers.
