Moritz Böhringer

Moritz Böhringer
No. 81 Minnesota Vikings
Position: Wide receiver
Personal information
Date of birth: (1993-10-16) October 16, 1993
Place of birth: Stuttgart, Germany
Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight: 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
NFL draft: 2016 / Round: 6 / Pick: 180
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com

Moritz Wilhelm Böhringer (born October 16, 1993) is a German American football wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Vikings in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He is the first European player to be selected in the NFL draft without playing college football. He is also the first German born player in the NFL playing an offensive non-kicking position eligible to touch forward passes.

Personal life

Böhringer played youth soccer in two local clubs in his home town Aalen. He says that he was inspired to play American football after watching a Youtube highlight reel of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson when he was 17.[1] In 2010, the town had the the fledgling Aalen Limes Praetorians and even a baseball team, but no opportunity to play American Football in a local junior team.

German football leagues

Böhringer joined the Crailsheim Titans under-19 junior team in 2011. In 2013 and 2014 he played for the Crailsheim Titans senior squad in Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. For the 2015 season, he moved to the nearby two-time German champions, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns of the German Football League (GFL).[1] Parallel to the national league regular seasons, some of the best European American football clubs, mainly from German-speaking countries plus France, compete for the Eurobowl in the Big6 European Football League. Böhringer's first big game was the Eurobowl XXIX 21-14 loss at the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions in June 2015. The Unicorns placed first in the GFL South Conference, advancing to the playoffs which ended in another loss to the Lions in German Bowl XXXVII.

Böhringer played 16 GFL games and had 59 receptions for 1232 yards and 13 Touchdowns. He also had 14 kickoff returns for 415 yards and two touchdowns.[2] His teammate Patrick Donahue, who was at Southern Oregon University (NAIA) in 2011-12 and played for the Lübeck Cougars in 2014, actually bettered Böhringer's numbers and was in May 2016 invited to a minicamp by the Green Bay Packers.[3][4] On the other hand, the Unicorns signed NFL free agent Tyler Rutenbeck[5] who had been with Washington and the Colts.[6]

National Football League

In early 2016 NFL scouts contacted the engineering student, and he was later invited to the Florida Atlantic Owls football pro day:[7]

Pre-draft measurables
Ht WtArm lengthHand size 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP
6 ft 4 in 227 lb33 3⁄8 in9 1⁄2 in 4.43 s 1.48 s 2.59 s 4.09 s 6.64 s 39 in 10 ft 11 in 17 reps
All values from Pro Day[8]

Afterwards, NFL.com featured him as „NFL Draft Party Crasher“.[9]

Böhringer was selected in the sixth round (180th overall) of the 2016 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. On May 2, he signed his contract, to start the work permit application process as soon as possible.

References

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