The Minnesota Vikings made German wide receiver Moritz Boehringer the first European drafted directly to the National Football League on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), taking him in the sixth round.
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“It’s a dream come true, ” the 22-year-old Boehringer said.
His hometown never produced enough interest to field a full team and Boehringer ended up playing for the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns of the German Football League for a year.
The German Football League 2015 Rookie of the Year will now be tasked with securing a spot on the squad, which will likely prove more hard given his inexperience with both the NFL’s expansive playbooks and complicated in-game adjustments. He posted a 40-yard dash time of 4.82 seconds at the combine, which didn’t rank among the fastest at that position. He said he was introduced to American football by watching YouTube highlight videos of Adrian Peterson, his favorite player (and now, as fate would have it, current teammate), and chose to start playing with a handful of friends.
The Vikings selected linebacker Kentrell Brothers from Missouri. “I will be prepared for that”.
“I heard he has a very strong handshake”, Boehringer said.
The NFL’s increased marketing of the game in Europe has started a trickle of prospects from overseas. Now, he’ll begin his National Football League career with the player whose highlights exposed him to the game in the first place. “It wasn’t to boost my draft stock, it was just me doing that because that’s what a lot of teams wanted to see”.
In the final round the Vikings went defense selecting defensive end Stephen Weatherly from Vanderbilt and safety Jayron Kearse from Clemens.
The Vikings drafted an offensive lineman in the fourth round by taking a guard with the 121st overall pick, Willie Beavers out of Western Michigan.
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The 6-foot Brothers led the nation last season with an average of 12.7 tackles per game. He sure didn’t sound anxious about his below-average size.
