Moritz Boehringer first draft pick to never play in North America

— -- EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -  Moritz Boehringer got his first exposure to football through YouTube clips of Adrian Peterson. Now, the German wide receiver will go from being Peterson's fan to his teammate.

The Minnesota Vikings selected Boehringer with the 186th overall pick of the NFL draft on Saturday, making the 22-year-old the first NFL draft pick not to play for a North American college. The 6-foot-4 receiver, who started playing football in 2013, comes to the Vikings from the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns of the German Football League.

He'd attracted interest from several teams after an impressive pro day, but the Vikings showed as much interest as any team in Boehringer, who was hoping he'd end up with his favorite team either as a draft pick or rookie free agent.

Boehringer had 70 catches for 1,461 yards and 16 touchdowns in 21 games with the Unicorns in 2015, and was named the GFL's Rookie of the Year. He'd played two seasons for the Crailsheim Titans before that, catching a combined 94 passes for 2,866 yards in 19 games with the team. Working out at Florida Atlantic's pro day, the former soccer player posted a 4.43-second 40-yard dash - on grass, not turf - and put up 17 repetitions on the bench press. He also had a 39-inch vertical leap, and had he been at the NFL combine this year, he would have placed near the top of the draft class in all of those tests.

Though he'll try to go from German football straight to the NFL, he impressed scouts enough to go from a possible undrafted free agent to a late-round draft pick. And now, he'll get to begin his NFL career with the player whose highlights exposed him to the game in the first place.