Moritz Böhringer
| No. 81 Minnesota Vikings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receiver | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth: | October 16, 1993 | ||
| Place of birth: | Stuttgart, Germany | ||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||
| Weight: | 227 lb (103 kg) | ||
| Career information | |||
| NFL Draft: | 2016 / Round: 6 / Pick: 180 | ||
| Career history | |||
| |||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||
| Roster status: | Practice squad | ||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||
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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.
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 fledgling Aalen Limes Praetorians and even a baseball team, but no opportunity to play American Football in a local junior team. Prior to being drafted into the NFL, Böhringer was majoring in mechanical engineering at Aalen University (Hochschule Aalen).[2]
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 (41-31) to the Lions in German Bowl XXXVII.
Böhringer played 16 GFL games and had 59 receptions for 1,232 yards and 13 Touchdowns. He also had 14 kickoff returns for 415 yards and two touchdowns.[3]
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:[4]
| Ht | Wt | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yd dash | 10-yd split | 20-yd split | 20-ss | 3-cone | Vert | Broad | BP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 4 in | 227 lb | 33 3⁄8 in | 9 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[5] | |||||||||||||||||||
Afterwards, NFL.com featured him as "NFL Draft Party Crasher".[6]
Böhringer was selected in the sixth round (180th overall) of the 2016 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He signed his contract with the team on May 2, 2016. On May 11, the NFL approved the use of the umlaut on his jersey, similar to the use of the cedilla for Pierre Garçon. Otherwise, the media uses the spelling "Boehringer" if a special character cannot be used.[7]
On September 3, 2016, Böhringer was released by the Vikings as part of final roster cuts.[8] However, the next day Böhringer was re-signed to the team's practice squad.[9]
References
- 1 2 "Moritz Boehringer Going from Unicorn to Vikings Gjallarhorn". Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ↑ http://www.vikings.com/team/roster/Moritz-B%C3%B6hringer/69a44a2d-6aa5-43b0-8d4d-5550ef3a8886
- ↑ http://stats.gfl.info/gfl/2015/shu.htm
- ↑ Vrentas, Jenny (13 April 2016). "Moritz Boehringer, The Mystery German Draft Prospect - The MMQB with Peter King". The MMQB. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ↑ "*Moritz Böhringer – Schwabisch Hall, WR : 2016 NFL Draft Scout External News". nfldraftscout.com.
- ↑ NFL.com: Incredible pro day puts German Moritz Boehringer on NFL radar
- ↑ Moritz Böhringer gets approval for umlaut on jersey
- ↑ "Vikings Announce Roster Moves, Set 53-Man Roster". Vikings.com.
- ↑ Belisle, Austin (September 4, 2016). "Moritz Böhringer Among Names Added to Vikings Practice Squad". VikingsTerritory. Retrieved September 4, 2016.