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Achtung! Vikings make history drafting German receiver in Round 6

Eric Edholm

The Minnesota Vikings made history on Saturday.

Moritz Boehringer became the first straight-from-Europe draft pick in NFL history when the Vikings used a sixth-round selection on him.

Boehringer quickly is becoming a folk hero here. His story is incredible. He played — get this — for the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns of the German Football League and put up monster numbers in 2015: 59 receptions, 1,232 yards, 13 TDs.

At his pro day, held at Florida Atlantic, the 6-foot-4, 227-pound Boehringer put on a show — a 4.43-second 40-yard dash, a vertical of 39 inches, a 10-foot-11 broad jump, 17 reps on the bench press, a 4.10-second short shuttle, 11.15-second 60-yard shuttle, and a 6.65-second three-cone. Those are elite testing numbers for any receiver, much less one with his terrific size.

Teams started digging immediately. Who was this guy? Several teams really did work on him, and the Vikings were among them. NFL Network's Mike Mayock took to Boehringer and promoted his cause, and it turned out that the Vikings were listening.

Oh, and it just so happened that a 17-year-old Boehringer watched an Adrian Peterson video and was inspired to give football a try and remained a Vikings fan since. Now he's in the NFL, playing for his favorite team.

You can't make this stuff up. A unicorn indeed.

So how good is the German Football League? One college scouting director who watched Boehriger's tape said "D-III or lower," so that gives you an idea of the competition he has faced. Now he'll go against Xavier Rhodes in camp. It will be a system shock for sure.

But this story is just too good. That same scout also recycled a joke that has made the rounds in NFL circles: that Boehringer is the German Jeff Janis, the Packers receiver who had an incredible playoff game against the Cardinals after seemingly coming from nowhere.

It will be fascinating to see if Boehringer can make it in what would be a unique path to the NFL.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!