For Moritz Boehringer, ‘the feel-good story is over’

9:03 AM ET

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Let’s get cynical for a moment. (It’s easier for some than others, I know.)

Suppose a sports/entertainment corporation — we’ll call it the NFL — wanted to make more money. What might it do? Like any business, it would search for undervalued markets and explore ways to capitalize on them. This profit-driven corporation — I mean, the NFL — might turn its attention to the 6.3 billion people on the planet who live outside the borders of the United States. That’s a lot of people, and a whole lot of money, just waiting to be exposed to America’s obsession.

That wasn’t so bad, was it?

In reality, you’ll need but a modest degree of cynicism to understand why German wide receiver Moritz Boehringer was a part of the Minnesota Vikings’ rookie minicamp Friday. This is not the rags-to-riches story of a young man toiling deep in the Bavarian Alps. (It isn’t even a story at all, if you ask Vikings coach Mike Zimmer. We’ll get to that in a bit.)

Boehringer is an impressive athlete who has played what amounts to club football. Of more relevance, though, is that he is the product of a pilot program designed to raise interest in the NFL abroad, according to the coach who coordinated his offseason training. Boehringer’s arrival is a mixture of marketing, opportunism and a team willing to use a draft pick that historically provides minimal returns, anyway.

Such is the true melting pot that deposited Moritz Boehringer in Minnesota on a 91-degree day for a non-padded practice that included a long detour to the sideline so that his stomach could, uh, purge its contents. He did not succumb, however, and returned in time to demonstrate that he has a long way to go before he can be considered a genuine NFL prospect.

If that doesn’t kill your buzz, I’ll let Zimmer finish it off.

“I want to kind of end the story, to be honest with you,” Zimmer said. “I want him to be here playing football, not being a celebrity. I’ve given him a hard time already about being on TV shows and stuff like that. It’s football now and it’s time to work.

“The feel-good story is over.”

There was little doubt about that after watching the Vikings’ 90-minute …

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