German wide receiver one of drafts biggest sleepers

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CGI_Ram

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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...e-receiver-one-of-nfl-drafts-biggest-sleepers



Moritz Boehringer has played football for only four years. In Germany. On fields that rival the ones high-school teams play on in the United States.

Yet that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the biggest sleepers and best-kept secrets of the 2016 NFL Draft that some teams wish could be kept quiet a little longer.

That's because he's 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, runs a 40-yard dash of 4.39 seconds, and has a 37-inch vertical (think Devin Funchess or Dorial Green-Beckham).

"I'd be intrigued, that's for sure," said NFL Media senior analyst Gil Brandt, a former longtime front-office executive with the Dallas Cowboys who signed his share of players lacking big-time football experience. "He's the kind of guy you rush out and see."

It's not certain how many or which teams will be present on Thursday at Florida Atlantic's pro day, where Boehringer will work out with FAU prospects, including DT Trevon Coley and CB Cre'von LeBlanc. But the Cardinals, Packers, Broncos and Vikings have all shown interest in him. Minnesota has a meeting with the German receiver scheduled for Wednesday night.

Boehringer picked up a football for the first time in 2013, joining the Crailsheim Titans junior youth team in Germany. He was promoted to the country's premier league (German Football League) in 2015 and was told he'd be brought along slowly. Instead, he dominated at the highest level and was selected the GFL's Rookie of the Year after posting 70 catches for 1,461 yards and 16 touchdowns in his first season with the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

While Boehringer is still considered a longshot, there have been other prospects who have played abroad that have started to pave the way for future international signings. The Cowboys signed British DE Efe Obada as an undrafted free agent last year after he played in just five games in 2014 with the London Warriors. Obada spent time on Dallas' practice squad and was waived earlier this month before being signed to the Kansas City Chiefs roster.

In February, 27-year-old Frenchman Anthony Dable' -- a 6-5, 215-pound wide receiver who, like Boehringer, also played in the GFL last season -- was signed by the New York Giants after a single workout. Unlike Boehringer, however, Dable' was a free agent who didn't have to go through the draft process because of his age. Boehringer is only 22 and draft-eligible.

He interrupted his mechanical engineering studies back home in order to train with the likes of Anquan Boldin and Pierre Garcon at XPE Sports Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. Thursday's pro day workout should go a long way toward deciding whether some team will use one of its allotted draft picks on him.

Follow College Football 24/7 on Twitter @NFL_CFB.
 

fearsomefour

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Huge athleticism meets raw beyond raw.
Who knows? Undrafted FA I am thinking, maybe a late round grab for someone.
 

DaveFan'51

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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...e-receiver-one-of-nfl-drafts-biggest-sleepers



Moritz Boehringer has played football for only four years. In Germany. On fields that rival the ones high-school teams play on in the United States.

Yet that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the biggest sleepers and best-kept secrets of the 2016 NFL Draft that some teams wish could be kept quiet a little longer.

That's because he's 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, runs a 40-yard dash of 4.39 seconds, and has a 37-inch vertical (think Devin Funchess or Dorial Green-Beckham).

"I'd be intrigued, that's for sure," said NFL Media senior analyst Gil Brandt, a former longtime front-office executive with the Dallas Cowboys who signed his share of players lacking big-time football experience. "He's the kind of guy you rush out and see."

It's not certain how many or which teams will be present on Thursday at Florida Atlantic's pro day, where Boehringer will work out with FAU prospects, including DT Trevon Coley and CB Cre'von LeBlanc. But the Cardinals, Packers, Broncos and Vikings have all shown interest in him. Minnesota has a meeting with the German receiver scheduled for Wednesday night.

Boehringer picked up a football for the first time in 2013, joining the Crailsheim Titans junior youth team in Germany. He was promoted to the country's premier league (German Football League) in 2015 and was told he'd be brought along slowly. Instead, he dominated at the highest level and was selected the GFL's Rookie of the Year after posting 70 catches for 1,461 yards and 16 touchdowns in his first season with the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.

While Boehringer is still considered a longshot, there have been other prospects who have played abroad that have started to pave the way for future international signings. The Cowboys signed British DE Efe Obada as an undrafted free agent last year after he played in just five games in 2014 with the London Warriors. Obada spent time on Dallas' practice squad and was waived earlier this month before being signed to the Kansas City Chiefs roster.

In February, 27-year-old Frenchman Anthony Dable' -- a 6-5, 215-pound wide receiver who, like Boehringer, also played in the GFL last season -- was signed by the New York Giants after a single workout. Unlike Boehringer, however, Dable' was a free agent who didn't have to go through the draft process because of his age. Boehringer is only 22 and draft-eligible.

He interrupted his mechanical engineering studies back home in order to train with the likes of Anquan Boldin and Pierre Garcon at XPE Sports Academy in Boca Raton, Fla. Thursday's pro day workout should go a long way toward deciding whether some team will use one of its allotted draft picks on him.

Follow College Football 24/7 on Twitter @NFL_CFB.

The kid looks real good in this video. I don't know how much of it is because of the skill level of players he played against. But I hope the Rams have someone at his workout!! he has great size and speed, and seems to move real well!!(y):D
 

Selassie I

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The German Football League has a team called the Unicorns. The fuck is that all about? :palm:
 

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The German Football League has a team called the Unicorns. The freak is that all about? :palm:

Those crazy Germans and their fables...

I say give the dude a shot if he's available at the right spot. Rams will probably be playing in Germany anyway at some point in the continued "You got LA now you're an overseas guinea pig until 2019" logic.
 

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Huge athleticism meets raw beyond raw.
Who knows? Undrafted FA I am thinking, maybe a late round grab for someone.

IF his 40 time comes in at the projected 4.4 this dude is going by round 4 at the latest. Length-size-speed-hands will put him ahead of a lot of WRs in this class. With those freakish numbers the rawness only limits him so much.

He would be bigger and faster than Quick, who the Rams took round 2. Quick was probably less raw of course, but still that's a good reference I think.
 

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I hope it works out for this guy.

My first thought: Fendi Onobun.
 

fearsomefour

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IF his 40 time comes in at the projected 4.4 this dude is going by round 4 at the latest. Length-size-speed-hands will put him ahead of a lot of WRs in this class. With those freakish numbers the rawness only limits him so much.

He would be bigger and faster than Quick, who the Rams took round 2. Quick was probably less raw of course, but still that's a good reference I think.
You could well be right.
Just having to teach a guy to run routes....NFL game speed and hiring ect. Could be a total bust
 

Akrasian

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You could well be right.
Just having to teach a guy to run routes....NFL game speed and hiring ect. Could be a total bust

I realize it's not fully as simple as this - but with Fendi I was amazed they didn't teach him 2-3 routes with 1 variation of each in OTAs and training camp - then polish those and add 3-4 more over the course of the season. Get something out of his freakish athleticism, and make defenses worry a little whenever he was out there. Take advantage of what he can do, and his amazing physical tools. I'd want to do the same thing with this guy - but I don't know if the Rams are the team to take advantage of that.
 

fearsomefour

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I realize it's not fully as simple as this - but with Fendi I was amazed they didn't teach him 2-3 routes with 1 variation of each in OTAs and training camp - then polish those and add 3-4 more over the course of the season. Get something out of his freakish athleticism, and make defenses worry a little whenever he was out there. Take advantage of what he can do, and his amazing physical tools. I'd want to do the same thing with this guy - but I don't know if the Rams are the team to take advantage of that.
Yeah, the Rams not exactly the best track record of developing WRs.
 

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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...fl-radar?campaign=fb-nf-sf23512716-sf23512716

The hype train surrounding Moritz Boehringerwas chugging along at a nice pace entering his pro day on Thursday. After an incredible workout in front of NFL scouts, that train is now in full runaway mode.

German wide receiver Moritz Boehringer runs 40-yard dash

In a matter of hours, the wide receiver from Germany went from someone most outside the hardcore NFL scouting community had never heard of to a player some scouts now believe could be taken as high as the fourth round in the NFL draft.

Officially at Florida Atlantic's pro day, Boehringer ran a 4.43-second 40-yard dash, had a vertical of 39 inches, a 10-foot-11 broad jump, a 4.10-second short shuttle, 11.15-second 60-yard shuttle, and a 6.65-second three-cone drill that had scouts on the ground doing double-takes at their stopwatches, shaking their heads, and laughing. He also had 17 lifts on the bench press. All of these marks would have landed inside the top five among all wide receivers who tested at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. And his 40, which was run on grass, is about the equivalent of a 4.39 on turf -- a time that would have tied for second among receivers at the combine.

What makes the performance even more remarkable was that Boehringer did it at a height-weight combo (he measured 6-4 1/2 and 227 pounds on Thursday) resembling an NFL tight end. There just aren't many historical comparisons for a player testing like he did at that size. Two of the more recent, better comps might be Devin Funchess and Dorial Green-Beckham -- 2015 second-round picks by theCarolina Panthers and Tennessee Titans.
 

tahoe

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continued:
In the field drills, Boehringer caught every pass thrown his way despite some adventurous tosses by the quarterback. Scouts were curious if he had ever faced press coverage so they asked a couple of the defensive backs there to press him at the line of scrimmage, and he had no problems releasing. At least two teams wanted to see his blocking techniques as a tight end. And when he was coached up, he was able to immediately make corrections.

"I came here today knowing what I needed to do," the ultra-quiet Boehringer said in perfect English after his pro day. "But I didn't realize there was going to be so many people watching me."

Following his workout he was plastered in the locker room with questions from scouts who were getting their very first exposure to him. The Patriots, Packers, Vikings, Broncos andChiefs appear particularly interested.

Chiefs GM John Dorsey, receiving a report from his scout on the ground at FAU, called Boehringer's agent, Kyle Strongin, in the middle of the workout and requested a visit. TheVikings scout -- who met with Boehringer Wednesday night and had introduced himself so Boehringer would remember him after the draft in his pitch to join Minnesota as a free agent -- was suddenly reassessing that plan Thursday, understanding the receiver would now likely cost his team a draft pick, maybe even a mid-rounder.

What complicates matters for NFL teams in trying to put a proper grade on Boehringer is that his evaluation is all projection. The level of play, even in Germany's top league where he dominated last season, is so far below the college level in the U.S. that all tape on him has little value aside from Madden-level entertainment.

But after Thursday's workout, there appears to be a clearer picture of what kind of player Boehringer could become in the NFL.
 

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I'd take him in the 4th. Looks like a lighter/WR version of Gronk.
 

12intheBox

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This has the feel of a day 3 / UDFA guy to me - but an intriguing one.
 

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Somebody will bite on those measurables.