Five years ago, a teenage soccer player from Germany was enticed to click on a YouTube clip of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in action. He immediately became a Vikings fan, and soon thereafter a football player.

Later this week, he could become Peterson’s teammate in Minnesota.

“It was the first time I saw football,” said Moritz Boehringer, perhaps the most unlikely prospect available in the 2016 NFL Draft, which begins Thursday and ends Saturday. Then 17, he was hooked.

“I saw the first one, and then I watched them all,” Boehringer said. “I just loved the way he ran the ball.”

Now 22, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound wide receiver, who starred last season in the German Football League, is projected to be selected sometime between the fourth and seventh rounds. He has met individually with seven NFL teams, including the Vikings.

The Vikings, like all NFL teams, were at the March 31 Florida Atlantic pro day in Boca Raton, Fla., where Boehringer impressed scouts with a 4.43-second 40-yard dash and 39-inch vertical leap. The next week, Boehringer was in Minnesota meeting general manager Rick Spielman, coach Mike Zimmer and receivers coach George Stewart.

“They knew that the Vikings were my favorite team,” Boehringer said. “I think my agent (Kyle Strongin) told them. It would be a dream come true to be able to play for them.”

Strongin said the Vikings have done extensive research on Boehringer and requested his medical records. He had never heard of Boehringer until February, when he was put in contact with him because he represents French wide receiver Anthony Dable (who signed with the New York Giants) and British free-agent tight end Harry Innis. After watching video, Strongin was convinced Boehringer’s size, speed and athleticism would make him attractive to the NFL.

Because Boehringer’s high school class graduated in 2012, the NFL determined he is eligible for the draft four years after that. He could be the first foreign player who didn’t attend a North American college ever drafted.

“It’s an amazing story,” Strongin said.

Boehringer caught 70 passes for 1,461 yards and 16 touchdowns in 21 games with the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns last season. It was his fourth year in football.

After being introduced to football by those Peterson videos, Boehringer looked for a football team in his hometown of Aalen, population of about 70,000, in southern Germany.

“There was one team, but we only had seven players, so we couldn’t play any games,” Boehringer said. “But then I found a team in another city that was nearby.”

Boehringer hooked on with the Crailsheim Titans, a club team. After three seasons — he caught 51 passes for 1,697 yards and 21 touchdowns in just nine games in 2014 — he moved up to the German Football League, which is considered on par with NCAA Division III.

There remain questions about the quality of foes Boehringer has faced, but it’s hard to question his pro day, which also included a standing broad jump of 10 feet, 11 inches.

“He created a massive buzz there,’’ Strongin said. “The scouts were saying, ‘Who is this guy?’ ”

Strongin hopes Boehringer will be taken in the fourth or fifth round. Draft analyst Dane Brugler said the sixth or seventh round is more realistic.

“It’s tough because you’re going based on workouts alone,’’ Brugler said. “I know there’s tape out there on him, but when you look at the competition, it’s hard to really gauge him. But I wouldn’t be surprised that with the athlete he is, at that size, that he’ll be drafted.”

If Boehringer isn’t picked, he said his first choice would be signing with the Vikings as a free agent. He only can imagine what it would be like to be Peterson’s teammate.

“That would be so cool,’’ he said. “Of course, it would be a great honor to play with him.’’