In An NFL First, The Vikings Just Drafted A Receiver Straight Out Of Germany

The Vikings are making dreams come true in the sixth round of the draft. This guy Moritz Boehringer, a wideout from Germany’s Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns, was 17 when he found video of Adrian Peterson ripping up YouTube. Instantly the Vikes were his favorite team, and football was his favorite sport. That was all of four years ago. Now, coming off 70 catches and 16 touchdowns in his lone season of pro ball, he’s a raw 22-year-old who just became the first player drafted straight from Europe. And he gets to play with Adrian Peterson. “Coolest thing,” he told the NFL Network desk crew.

What else do we know about Boehringer? Sports Illustrated called him the “Mystery German” who could unkink the pipeline of talent from Europe to the States. He’s a hell of a specimen, at 6-foot-4, 227 pounds, and capable of a 4.4 40-yard dash in workouts. His nickname is “Silence,” which can easily be modified to something less bossy (maybe the Silencer? Eurostep?). And he’s been playing organized ball only since 2013. He told SB Nation he didn’t want to play quarterback because he thought it was boring. “I’d rather be running around,” he said. Cornerbacks are going to shove him around for a year or two, as he figures out how to handle the competition, and then he’ll still be 6-foot-4 with ridiculous speed and fantastic hands and maybe a nickname you get to say with a fun accent.