Tai Felton is one of four Maryland receivers to record a 1,000-yard receiving season, but his special teams tape was a big part of what caught the Vikings’ eyes.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
Maryland wide receiver Tai Felton runs a drill at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on March 1. A strong performance at the combine increased the Vikings’ interest. (Michael Conroy/The Associated Press)
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The Vikings also moved up from No. 187 in the sixth round to No. 142 in the first round on Saturday via the trade.
Here are five things to know about the newest Viking.
1. Felton’s communication with the Vikings picked up after a strong NFL scouting combine performance.
He ran a 4.37-second 40-yard dash with a 1.51-second 10-yard split. The time was faster than several receivers taken ahead of him in the draft.
“There’s play speed and there’s timed speed, but we all sat in those rooms and you could feel this player’s speed on film, and he’s also 6-1,” Vikings senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson said Friday night.
Felton also posted a 39.5-inch vertical, the fourth-best among wide receivers, and a 10-foot, 10-inches broad jump.
2. Expect to see Felton on special teams early.
Grigson said the team sees “more juice to squeeze” out of him on special teams than even what he did in college.
Felton played 279 special teams snaps through four seasons. He did his most kick return work in 2022, when he averaged 25 return yards on six returns.
Felton also returned two punts for 17 total yards last season, continuing on special teams even with an increased workload at wide receiver.
“We feel like this is the type of player that’s going to work to define a role for himself because he brings a lot to the table,” Grigson said. “The toughness factor for a guy that can really run… it’s great to be able to get this player at this spot because of all the different possibilities he can do whether it’s on special teams or as a receiver for us.”
Said Felton: “Wherever they put me, it doesn’t matter. … I’m gonna be doing it 100%.”
3. Felton has been a Justin Jefferson fan since the star wide receiver’s LSU days.
In his opening statement to local media Thursday night, he said getting “to learn from the best, Justin Jefferson” was one of the reasons he feels “blessed” to land with the Vikings.
Felton would have still been playing high school ball in Virginia when he started watching Jefferson in 2019.
“The main thing I wanna do is kind of just watch his routine daily,” Felton said. “How he works, what he does to help him ‘cause he catches the ball very well as you guys know with his hand-eye coordination. He has very strong hands and stuff of that nature.”
4. Felton is one of just four Maryland players to record a 1,000-yard receiving season.
He joins current Bears receiver D.J. Moore, former NFL receiver Torrey Smith and Marcus Badgett. Felton’s 1,124 yards led the Big Ten last season, and his 96 receptions led not just the conference but all of Power 4.
It was a big step up. He’d caught half that number of passes the year before while playing alongside current Vikings wide receiver Jeshaun Jones.
Felton has a collegiate total of 2,207 yards and 17 touchdowns on 172 receptions.
5. Like Vikings first-round pick Donovan Jackson, Felton had an early collegiate milestone against the Gophers.
Jackson’s first collegiate appearance for Ohio State was against the Gophers in September 2021. Felton caught his first pass against Minnesota in October 2021 for a 9-yard gain.
Felton didn’t play Minnesota again until this past season. The Gophers won 48-23, but he had the last of his five 100-yard performances in 2024, the most in the Big Ten. Four of those games came in consecutive weeks at the start of the season.
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