Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams has been pretty defiant lately. Not just on the field, but in the cleats he laces up. Specifically, Williams wears cleats made by Caddix, a company Jack Rasmussen founded in 2023. Because the NFL hasn't approved the brand, the league fined Williams.
According to ESPN, Williams accumulated $35,823 in fines. The cleats displayed an unauthorized logo, as the league has partnerships with Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor. On Monday, Williams wore plain black cleats during the Bears' victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Meanwhile, Williams says he still will wear the cleats to prevent injuries.
On Wednesday, Michelle Kafka, COO and Account Director at Kafka Media Group, which handles Caddix's PR, defended Williams in a statement to ClutchPoints.
“It’s unprecedented for a player like Caleb Williams to not have a shoe deal or contract with a shoe brand. Typically, the first all-around draft pick in the NFL would have a deal prior to ever stepping foot on the field. In addition to that, Williams is choosing to wear a brand that isn’t paying him and has no league affiliation. All of what he’s doing is why it’s causing such a large conversation around athlete branding and safety. This moment and fine points to an overall issue with a league-wide deal on a logo. Athletes technically have a choice with which brand they sign with or wear, but they aren’t allowed to show logos that their league doesn’t approve. We see this in NFL, NSWL, NBA, across all sports athletes are given a choice but still have to abide by only showing what their league dictates.”
Caddix cleats include “SmartStuds” technology, which aims to prevent lower body injuries.