Here’s Why The NFL Is Fining Players For Caddix Cleats

Caddix has been quietly becoming more and more popular with NFL players, but recently made headlines after the league fined Chicago Bears star quarterback Caleb Williams for violating the NFL Uniform and Equipment Rules.

The violation occurred on Oct. 18 when the Bears faced off against the Atlanta Falcons. According to the league, Williams was fined $11,941 for wearing the Caddix cleats without covering the brand’s unauthorized logo on the upper. While the cleats themselves are not prohibited, they do not comply with the league’s policy which states that “players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or orally promoting equipment, apparel, or other items that carry commercial names of logos/identifications of companies unless such commercial identification has been approved in advance by the League office.”

According to Caddix’s website, the brand was founded in 2015 by Rasmussen and his father, Jeff, after they watched an NFL player go down in a non-contact ACL injury. The two began researching possible correlations for the continuous injuries and found that the interaction of the cleats and the playing surface was the culprit. This led to the brand developing SmartStuds, which appear at the base of Caddix cleats.

Per Caddix, its SmartStuds are said to reduce lower-body rotational stress and drop the risk of non-contact knee and ankle injuries as compared to conventional designs. Unlike standard cleats that lock the feet into the turf or grass surfaces, the SmartStuds are made to flex under extreme loads and release more quickly, decreasing the rotational torque typically impacting a player’s ankles and knees.