Moritz Wilhelm Böhringer (born October 16, 1993) is a German professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

who is a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

in the sixth round of the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015 NFL Draft, 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park (Chicago), ...

. Böhringer was the first European player to be selected in the NFL Draft without playing any college football.

Personal life

Böhringer played youth soccer in two local clubs in his hometown of Aalen. He says that he was inspired to play

after watching a highlight reel of former

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...

on YouTube when he was 17. 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 Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

at .

Professional career

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 The Oberliga Baden-Württemberg is the highest association football league in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the Baden-Württemberg football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German foot ...

German Football League

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns

For the 2015 season, he moved to the nearby two-time German champions, the

Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns The Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are an American football team from Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. The club's greatest successes were winning the southern division title in the German Football League in 2009 and in every season played since 2011 (as of ...

of the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''American-Football-Bundesliga'' to ''German Foot ...

(GFL). 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 The Eurobowl was the championship final game of a tournament style playoff to determine the champion of all of the American football leagues in Europe. The tournament featured the top or champion clubs from each countries top league that was cal ...

in the BIG6 European Football League. Böhringer's first big game was the Eurobowl XXIX 21–14 loss at the Braunschweig

New Yorker Lions The New Yorker Lions are an American Football team from Braunschweig, Germany. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig 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.

National Football League

In early 2016, NFL scouts invited Böhringer to a

Pro Day The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

hosted by the

Florida Atlantic Owls football The Florida Atlantic Owls football program represents Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the sport of American football. The Owls compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Amer ...

team.

Minnesota Vikings

Böhringer was selected in the sixth round (180th overall) of the

by the

. He signed his contract with the team on May 2, 2016. The same month, the NFL approved the use of the umlaut on his jersey, similar to the use of the cedilla for

Pierre Garçon Pierre Andre Garçon (; born August 8, 1986) is a former American Football wide receiver. He played college football at Norwich University and Mount Union College, and was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Dra ...

. On September 3, 2016, Böhringer was released by the Vikings as part of final roster cuts and was re-signed to the practice squad the next day. After spending the entire season on the practice squad, Böhringer signed a reserve/futures contract with the Vikings on January 2, 2017. On September 2, 2017, Böhringer was waived by the Vikings.

Cincinnati Bengals

On May 1, 2018, Böhringer was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as part of the NFL's International Player Pathway program after he chose to transition to tight end. He was waived on September 1, 2018 and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Bengals on December 31, 2018. On August 31, 2019, Böhringer was waived during final roster cuts and signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a

futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

with the Bengals on December 30, 2019. He was waived on August 3, 2020.

Return to Schwäbisch Hall

Böhringer once more played for the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns in the 2021 German Football League season in which his team went 10–0 in the regular season before losing German Bowl XLII 28–19 to the

Dresden Monarchs The Dresden Monarchs are an American football team from Dresden, Germany. They have been a member of the first tier German Football League since 2002 and play in its Northern Division. They are the reigning champion after having won German Bowl XL ...

. In 13 games (regular season and playoffs combined) Böhringer had 37 receptions for 691 yards, leading his team in both categories. He scored 9 touchdowns through the air and had a rushing touchdown with three rushes for 30 yards.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohringer, Moritz 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Stuttgart American football tight ends American football wide receivers German players of American football German Football League players Minnesota Vikings players Cincinnati Bengals players International Player Pathway Program participants German expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate players of American football