Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has moved away from displaying unapproved brand logos on his footwear. He stepped onto the field in an all-black, logo-less design to avoid further financial penalties from the league office (Yahoo Sports). Williams debuted the unmarked shoes during a 34-17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. He altered his approach after accumulating $35,823 in fines for wearing Caddix cleats marked with a visible logo.
Williams Fined $35,823 for Unapproved Cleats
The league enforces strict uniform policies restricting visible branding from unapproved footwear companies. Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour maintain exclusive official partnerships with the National Football League. Players are barred from displaying competing manufacturer logos during games. The dispute started when the NFL issued an initial $11,941 fine following Chicago’s Week 6 win over the Atlanta Falcons, where Williams wore the cleats with the company’s insignia clearly displayed. Caddix CEO Jack Rasmussen noted that the brand has been selling cleats for less than two years and operates with a total of four employees. When Williams repeated the violation during a Week 7 matchup against the New England Patriots, the league assessed a further $23,882 fine, bringing his two-week total to $35,823 as updated by Complex Sneakers.
Joe Flacco is covering Caleb Williams’ $23k fine for the “unauthorized logo” on his Caddix cleats, totaling $35,823 over two weeks. Caddix also put up a billboard in Chicago in support. 📸: Getty / Caddix pic.twitter.com/TSM7UU0Uuu
An appeal hearing for Williams has been scheduled for November 10.
Athletes and Investors Rally Behind Williams
Jack Rasmussen, the chief executive officer of Caddix, stated that the brand had not paid the quarterback. Company executives and fellow athletes rallied behind his stance (Yahoo Sports). Caddix also put up a billboard in Chicago in support of the quarterback. When a video surfaced of Williams wearing his unmarked cleats in pre-game warmups, the company’s X account posted, No logo necessary!
Joe Flacco is a Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and Caddix investor. He also expressed support for the quarterback, stating that if Caleb Williams believes in Caddix the way he does, he is happy to stand behind him.
The company also maintains a roster of athlete advisors that includes former Baltimore Ravens tight ends Todd Heap and Dennis Pitta, alongside NWSL player Kayla Sharples.
Never heard of these cleats so I googled it. “Caddix cleats are specialized athletic footwear designed with patented SmartStuds™ technology to reduce non-contact knee and ankle injuries—such as ACL tears—by minimizing excessive rotational torque on turf and grass fields” They… https://t.co/PCV3C645SH
Bears Coach Assesses Equipment Standards
League regulations allow non-partner footwear as long as any unauthorized branding is concealed. Postgame locker room inspectors roam the areas to ensure no non-partner logos remain visible. For many violations, a player cannot return to the game until the problem is corrected. Speaking ahead of the Seattle matchup, Bears head coach Ben Johnson expressed confidence when questioned about whether the NFL could penalize Chicago or prevent Williams from taking the field.
He’s all about the team, and I know he’s not going to hurt the team.
Williams told reporters after the Monday night victory that adopting the matte black, logo-less footwear served to reduce external friction with league authorities (Yahoo Sports, Chicago Sun-Times).
Just to calm things down. It was a big week and I’m not here to create any B.S. towards the team, I wanna keep that to a minimum from my side. Obviously I get a lot of media, and so just trying to minimize that as much as possible.
Earlier coverage: Caleb Williams fined by NFL over Caddix cleats logo
More on Caleb Williams
Joe is also an investor in the company
Flacco is an investor in Caddix.
NFL giving Caddix the Air Jordan treatment of advertisement is crazy work
This is lame that the NFL keeps fining him. The cleats are better for player safety
Caleb Williams spoke about the cleats he was fined nearly $12,000 for wearing during the Bears Thursday night victory over the Patriots earlier today at Halas Hall. The cleats, produced by an innovative shoe company known as Caddix, use SmartStuds technology with the intent to… pic.twitter.com/y8pxtwIKqO
Notice a change? #Bears QB Caleb Williams has been wearing Caddix Cleats this season. The cleat is being worn by nearly 40 NFL players this season, including Williams. Williams was recently fined by the NFL after wearing them in Week 6. pic.twitter.com/06A4OpXIKY
August 2024: Joe Flacco debuted Caddix in an NFL game as a backup for the @Colts. He is now an investor in the company.
October 2026: Over sixty NFL athletes including starters at QB, RB, FB, WR, DB, LB, OL, & DL chose to wear Caddix in a single week.
Caleb Williams wanted to “calm things down” and not make the choice of cleats he wears in games a storyline amid the Bears dominant win over the Seahawks on MNF. So he wore matte black Caddix cleats with the logo blacked out. “It was a big week and (I’m) not here to create any…
Bears QB Caleb Williams wore all-black cleats without a visible logo Monday night to avoid media distractions. He was previously fined $11,941 twice for wearing Caddix cleats with an “unauthorized logo.” Via @YahooSports | https://t.co/qyhH0Gm73m pic.twitter.com/sOXRGzap24
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