MINNEAPOLIS -- The process began ordinarily enough: Vikings general manager Rick Spielman got a tip just after the NFL combine "from a very good source" about a receiver entering the draft with plenty of talent and little fanfare. The Vikings might want to take a look at the player, the source told Spielman, and see if he'd be worth a late-round pick or a rookie free-agent contract.

The problem was this: Moritz Boehringer had little fanfare because he was coming to the NFL straight from Germany. How were the Vikings going to get game film of him? And what's more, how much good would any of it do?

"I had our pro guys kind of look at his YouTube and I looked at his YouTube and we kind of followed him through the process," Spielman said. "Of course, he is going to stick out like a sore thumb when you are watching the German league. Not anything against the German league, but some of the corners he was playing against looked like some of the scouts sitting across from me."

The YouTube clips of Boehringer -- clad in the green-and white uniforms of the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns -- showed some things that were universal. His size, his speed and his ability to accelerate out of his cuts would play anywhere. But as Boehringer streaked across stadiums no bigger than an American high school field, he ran away from defensive backs that were leagues away from what he'd see in the NFL. No algorithm could tell the Vikings how he'd handle the transition from one to the next.

Boehringer had been training in Boca Raton, Florida, before the draft, and secured a spot at Florida Atlantic's pro day. Terrance Gray, the Vikings' Southeast scout, took the 22-year-old out to dinner the night before the workout. Then Boehringer ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash -- on grass -- flashed a 39-inch vertical leap and put up 17 repetitions in the bench press. All of those marks would've put him among the top five receivers at this year's NFL combine. He dropped one pass in the workout. His routes were crisper than scouts expected, and his cuts were sharp.

"Watching YouTube, he runs and he catches, and then he runs around all the guys on the German YouTube," Spielman said. "When you watched him run routes at his workout, you can tell he’s really worked at it. ... He’s very powerful coming off the ball. He can drop his weight. He shows quickness in and out of his cuts.

The Vikings knew they had to see more -- and they knew they wouldn't be the only ones interested.

They brought Boehringer to their top-30 prospects event in early April. In meetings, he showed an understanding of the game that belied his scant experience. The Vikings had some equity with Boehringer, who'd become a fan of the team after getting his introduction to American football through YouTube clips of Adrian Peterson, but by draft weekend, they knew they wouldn't be able to sign him as a rookie free agent. If they wanted him, they'd have to draft him.

"There’s not a lot of secrets in this business anymore," Spielman said. "A lot of times, when they do come in on a top 30 [visit], especially guys with unique circumstances, that’s the one thing that I want to know: Who’s had you in at their facility. Some of these guys [have] seven, eight or nine teams that [they] have been going and visiting with."

When the Vikings made the pick, TV cameras showed Boehringer giddily receiving the news over the phone. In a NFL Network interview after the pick, coach Mike Zimmer said, with more sincerity than sarcasm, "That's what the draft is about. We're in it to make people's dreams come true.

"I was like, 'Zim, you sound like a Disney advertisement,'" Spielman said.

The Vikings used a draft pick on Boehringer, though, for more than a good story. They believe he can translate raw talent into real production, without the benefit of college football's time-honored tutelage. The Vikings' German experiment begins now.

"I truly believe our guys do a great job and it’s emphasized that we’re not just going to scout college, we’re not going to just scout guys in the pros," Spielman said. "We’re going to look at every angle possible to find players."