Moritz Böhringer’s dream of the NFL lives on: The German wide receiver was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals and will change the position there. Former GFL linebacker Chris Ezeala will also be staying in the AFC North – with the Baltimore Ravens.
Böhringer obviously signs with the Bengals with a new position: Cincinnati lists the Germans as tight ends, not – as has been the case everywhere before – as wide receivers.
Böhringer was released by the Minnesota Vikings at the beginning of September, a few weeks later he was allowed to play for the Bengals. Now Cincinnati offered him a contract under the Pathway Program, which was installed to give foreign players a chance in the NFL.
On the third day of Draft 2016, Böhringer was one of the great stories as well as a historical event: The German had registered for the draft without any football experience in the USA and was the first player from the GFL to be taken directly to the NFL in the sixth round – SPOX was there live with the camera.
As a result Böhringer proved himself in the training of the Minnesota Vikings, but ended up in the practice squad. “I was quite unprepared”, he should later, in January 2017, in a retrospective SPOX interview, “it is something completely different than in Germany, quite clear – just the fact that everything here is professional is already a big change. Everything is more intense, the media are waiting everywhere. That’s something else.”
The much larger Playbook compared to Germany was already the norm for him at the time: “I learned several hours a week, how long exactly I can’t say – I didn’t really pay attention. However, the Playbook always changes a little during the season when it is adapted to the opponents. New things will be added, others will be deleted.”
Besides the Playbook, the Route Running in the NFL as well as the handling of the Cornerbacks may have been one of the bigger changes for Böhringer, who was finally released in Minnesota shortly before the start of last season. In this respect, the change in position towards the tight end is an interesting development: Böhringer’s best chance should initially be as a receiving tight end, the better he presents himself as a blocker, the better his chances are.
In Cincinnati he now has the opportunity to recommend himself for further tasks during the summer. The squads of the NFL teams are currently still huge, teams are allowed to take 90 players into the final preseason game. Only then will the radical reduction take place to reach the squad size of 53 players for the Regular Season. An overview of the entire Preseason schedule can be found here.
Not only Böhringer found his new team on Tuesday, also the German Christopher Ezeala can prove himself in the coming weeks and months in an NFL franchise. The former GFL Linebacker, who was still active for Ingolstadt Dukes last year, was also contracted by the Baltimore Ravens via the Pathway Programme.
Ezeala had kept fit in Florida in the past weeks together with Böhringer, among others, and the training was accompanied by the NFL for a documentary. “Moritz doesn’t talk much, but he’s a very cool guy. We’ve been together in a huge apartment here at the IMG for over ten weeks. During this time we have all become a small family. He could help me a lot because he was in Minnesota himself,” Ezeala told Ran.de about Böhringer.
Ezeala also experiences a change of position: The Ravens list the 22-year-old as fullback, not linebacker. During his preparation in the past weeks at the IMG Academy he was retrained.
“I played a lot of positions in Germany, was running back, linebacker and defensive end,” he continued at ran.de. “My coaches told me that there are many linebackers like me, but no fullback that is so athletic and so fast. So you’re trying to create a new type of player with me.”