Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson signed a four-year, $39 million contract a year ago, but that doesn't keep him from returning to his family farm in tiny Riley, Kansas, every off-season and putting in a full day's work.

In an interview in the new issue of ESPN the Magazine, Nelson said he would work up to 12 hours a day on the farm, driving a combine to cut wheat or rounding up the 1,000-cow herd in the town whose population is 992.

"Working cattle is my favorite farm duty," Nelson told ESPN. He said he identifies "more as a farmer" than as a football player.

Nelson went on to say that in Riley he is "just the farm kid they have always known."

After starring as a quarterback at Riley High School, Nelson walked on at nearby Kansas State, where he ultimately moved to wide receiver.

Since being drafted in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft, Nelson has caught 49 touchdown passes and was a Pro Bowler in 2014.

In an interview with The 700 Club this year, Nelson explained how life on the farm prepared him for the NFL.