Vikings rookie Tai Felton has been a receiver on a steady rise for years

When the Vikings drafted receiver Tai Felton in the third round in April, he first spoke over the phone with General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, then coach Kevin O’Connell and then receivers coach Keenan McCardell, who took the chance to celebrate this touchdown.

“What’d I tell you?” McCardell repeated to Felton. “What’d I tell you?”

McCardell already had told Felton, during Maryland’s pro day on March 28, that the Vikings were interested in the speedy, 6-foot-1 receiver with a knack for turning short catches into explosive plays. The Vikings coach had an advantageous seat to evaluate Felton that day because McCardell, who coached Maryland receivers in 2014 and 2015, remains close with Terrapins head coach Mike Locksley.

“I ran it, basically,” McCardell said of Felton’s pro day. “It was a really good workout. I told him, ‘Hey, man, you got me thinking now. If I get a chance, I’m going to fight to get you.’ … He can play special teams and do a lot of things to help us as a team, first, and then as a receiver. I think he’s going to be a good Viking for a long time.”

That kind of loyalty resonates with Felton, an Ashburn, Va., native who watched major college programs ditch him after a torn ACL ended his junior year at Stone Bridge High School.

Maryland stuck by his side. And later, when Felton received offers to transfer before his breakout 2024 season, he stuck by Maryland’s side and capped a four-year stay with a program-record 96 catches last fall.

“You’ll know who your real friends are when you’re at your lowest,” Felton said. “Even when I was in high school, other high schools tried to get me to leave and I ended up staying. … When I was at my lowest, coach [Locksley] stayed with me. That means a lot to me, and that’s something that runs big in my family – loyalty.”

With the Vikings, “I have a good feeling,” Felton added. “We have that Maryland connection” with McCardell and former Terrapins teammate Jeshaun Jones, a second-year receiver in Minnesota.

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Before Felton, the older of Iteago and Shannon Felton’s two children, had a football in his hands, he was holding an unplugged controller playing “Madden” with his dad.

“I feel like football has always been in my blood since I was a little kid,” Felton said. “They say my first steps weren’t walking, I was always running. I feel like that’s where I got my speed from.”

Felton’s football career started at age 7 in youth leagues that morphed into a travel team formed by Iteago and other parents, who were among the estimated 100 to 115 people at Felton’s NFL draft party. He was initially a “skinny” running back, Felton said, but developed his tackle-breaking ways charging through peers.

But one year in middle school, Felton decided to take a season off from football to focus on basketball. His mother’s Lakers fandom led Felton to being a huge Kobe Bryant fan. But his dad urged him to go with friends to a Friday night rivalry football game at Stone Bridge, a perennial contender under then-coach Mickey Thompson.

“He ran back into the house,” Iteago Felton said. “I was laying in bed and he’s like, ‘Dad, I like football again!’ He only played on two losing teams his entire life, and that year his basketball team went 0-10, so I think that helped us, too.”

Felton comes from a tightknit community around Ashburn, and the Stone Bridge football program also produced new Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, a two-time Pro Bowler for the hometown Washington Commanders.

Allen recalled both a family atmosphere and intense expectations at Stone Bridge under Thompson, who oversaw three state title winners in 24 years.

“It’s a high school, but it’s almost like a junior college,” he said. “We’re training morning before school, Sundays, after school.”

Felton’s high standards already were set by his family. One day, Thompson said, Shannon Felton walked onto the practice field because Tai hadn’t done his homework.

“She just chewed him out,” Thompson said. “He left and I go, ‘I’m not messing with that.’”

Felton instantly thrived when he joined varsity as a sophomore in 2018, drawing the eyes of top college recruiters with 1,050 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns — when he wasn’t blocking for Thompson’s wishbone offense.

“I was running routes out of the backfield,” Felton said, “playing running back, split out at receiver, sometimes I was at tight end, I’d go into a three-point stance and block some D-linemen … just shows I love the game and will do anything to help the team win.”

Thompson said he’ll still get a periodic text from Iteago Felton jabbing the coach for putting his son, a critical player, on a punt return early during his junior year in 2019. On that play, Felton “wasn’t even touched,” Thompson recalled, when he went down while juking defenders.

Felton’s torn ACL was enough for many top college programs to halt their recruitment. Letters from Alabama and Clemson stopped; some offers, like Virginia Tech, were rescinded.

Felton still had suitors, including Michigan State, Nebraska and Maryland, where Locksley was in his first year as head coach in 2019 and willing to bet on the receiver’s development.

But by the time Felton early enrolled at Maryland in 2021, he hadn’t played in a game in about 18 months because of his injury and the pandemic.

“My confidence was definitely shot,” Felton explained. “I didn’t know what was going on, had to learn a big college playbook. My high school actually ran single wing. When I got to Maryland, we were running a spread offense. So, it took me a little bit to learn the playbook and realize I’m a 17-year-old kid playing against some grown people and the game is moving faster.”

“I was second-guessing myself,” he added, “but as I got into it, I definitely got better year by year.”

Locksley saw Felton’s supreme talent flash on the field, but mistakes would linger and threaten his confidence.

McCardell heard as much when he called Locksley last fall in the middle of Felton’s breakout senior season. Locksley told McCardell that Felton was no different than other players he’s coached.

“He’s in the same realm as a Stefon Diggs, a D.J. Moore, a Calvin Ridley,” Locksley said. “The one thing I cautioned Keenan on is he has a tremendous amount of talent, but Tai can get down on himself at times. That’s where I think Keenan is a great situation for Tai.”

“I saw Tai gain more and more confidence,” Locksley added, “and if he can start where he finished off for us, you’ll see another level to him.”

McCardell, who has 29 seasons of NFL playing and coaching experience, knows how to relate.

“I see that when he messes up, he cares,” McCardell said. “I’ve been in every situation of this game, and I can kind of walk them through it. Tell them what I’d do, maybe ease the brunt of it.”

Felton was one of the hardest to tackle in college football last season, demonstrating it in the third quarter of Maryland’s season-opening win over Connecticut.

The shifty Felton, who has 4.37-second speed in the 40-yard dash, ran a few yards upfield and turned around. He then turned a quick hook route into a 75-yard touchdown when he juked the first defender, spun away from the second, and outran three others to the end zone.

“You saw all facets of Tai’s game,” Locksley said, “with his ability to catch a ball cleanly, turn, square people up, make a guy miss, and then just his finishing speed.”

McCardell said that’s the kind of burst and elusiveness that he was hoping to pair with smooth route runners like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. The Vikings also signed receiver Rondale Moore in free agency with a similar vision.

At Maryland, Felton improved in catches, yards and touchdowns all four years, which is the kind of progression McCardell wants from a Vikings draft pick.

“Goes from being just a spot player to a guy that’s a starter to his whole mentality switching and being a guy that can carry a team,” McCardell said.

By his junior year, Felton was Maryland’s second option behind Jones, signed by the Vikings as an undrafted free agent last year.

Jones, who spent last year on the practice squad, watched Felton from Minnesota as he stacked 100-yard games for Maryland. Jones said he told McCardell to keep an eye out for his former teammate.

Felton finished with 1,124 yards — second in program history — and was named a first-team All-Big Ten selection and a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist.

“He wanted to prove himself right, but a lot of people wrong,” Jones said. “‘You kind of forgot about me in the recruiting process, but I’m going to show you.’”

Felton said he’s nowhere near a finish line.

He told McCardell in that draft-night call: “It’s time to go to work now.”

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