Paea's mother Ana was encouraged by father Peniamin (Ben) to give birth to Stephen in New Zealand, believing it would open up opportunities for him later in life. With family in Otara and Papatoetoe, Auckland was a home away from home for the Paeas.
Returning to Vava'u, Tonga, at 3 months old, Paea grew up playing the 15-man code as a ball-running back-rower, always with a view to returning to New Zealand.
Then fate, disguised as a cousin, intervened.
"One of my cousins who played American football came to Tonga and talked to my Mum and Dad about coming to the States, so the whole New Zealand idea just changed all of a sudden."
A shift to the USA, first to Kansas, then Provo, Utah, exposed him to a different sport and although he didn't take to the gridiron until his final year at high school, Paea's physical gifts - he now stands at 1.85m and a scales-warping 136kg - meant he had a preternatural gift for the game.
After two years at junior college, he went to Oregon State, where he dominated on the defensive line, winning numerous awards. But it was probably what he did at an NFL scouting combine, where wannabe pros display their wares under controlled conditions in front of all the teams' scouting personnel, which set him apart.
Paea set a record in the bench press, lifting 102kg 49 times in under a minute.
That, and his college career, saw him sent to the Chicago Bears in the second round (53rd overall) of the 2011 draft.
American football rewards its best. The Bears' carpark is full of late-model SUVs and classic muscle cars. An average career in the NFL, if there's such a thing, can make you a rich man.
So from a financial point of view, Paea has got lucky, but there's things he misses about rugby. Paea quickly calculated that he had touched the ball a sum total of four times for the Bears. Four times! In more than three years!
"I played No 8, that was my favourite position, running the ball, tackling, all that," Paea says. "I always liked running the ball, that's why when I first moved here I thought I was going to be a running back.
"But they don't put real big guys at running back - they put them in the O-line or D-line [offensive and defensive linemen]."
His role is to tackle the opposition running back and put pressure on the quarterback. He's never recovered a fumble, never secured an intercept.
"I've deflected the ball four times in my career. I've touched the ball four times and that's just the ball hitting my hand and bouncing off," Paea says.
"In football everybody has their own specific job. My job is to fight against the offensive linemen, tackle the running back and get after the quarterback. That's how I get paid."
The influence of Polynesian players in the NFL is growing every year, although Paea says the draft system's emphasis on education and discipline has seen a huge amount of talent fall by the wayside.
"If you can handle all that, they can trust you and will pay you millions of dollars to do a job for them. [But] Polynesian kids seem to get in trouble. I've seen a lot of talented Polynesian kids getting in trouble in high school with [crime] and getting in gangs.
"They have scholarships to universities but don't make it. Those are the things keeping us back."
Still, like rugby, there are more Polynesian role models for kids to look up to and emulate. When he was a kid, he recalled watching the likes of Jonah Lomu, Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu. Today he gets to meet the latter at the All Blacks' downtown hotel.
"It'll be an honour and a dream to finally meet some players. I have a meeting with Keven Mealamu," he says with childlike enthusiasm.
Paea has three brothers and three cousins flying in to join him for the test. He's thrilled there will be close to a capacity crowd at his back yard.
"It should be sold out; we've got the best team in the world coming in."
