EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsIt was a letter Jack Rasmussen had been anticipating. The founder of Caddix, a cleats start-up that has squeezed its way into NFL locker rooms, knew that at some point the league would fine a player for wearing his shoes.Then, on Oct. 20, it arrived.The recipient was Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, who was fined $11,941 for wearing an "unauthorized logo" on his cleats in Week 6 against the Atlanta Falcons. On Thursday, the league fined Williams again, this time for $23,882, for wearing the Caddix footwear in Week 7 against the New England Patriots.All Williams had to do to avoid the fines -- which Caddix and company investor Joe Flacco said they were willing to pay -- is cover up the logo. Williams told ESPN last week that wasn't in his plans for Monday night's game against the Seattle Seahawks, but he changed his mind, saying he wanted to "calm things down" for his team. He wore matte black cleats that did not show the Caddix logo. Williams had another strong game in a 34-17 victory.This season has been Caddix's breakthrough. After passing NFL testing in May 2025, Caddix was approved earlier this year as a non-licensed footwear company, allowing the cleats to be worn during games. But non-licensed footwear brands can't have their logos visible on the field.Companies pay the NFL millions of dollars to be allowed to show their logo and, as of now, that list includes just three brands: Nike, Adidas and Under Armour.Williams, who does not have an endorsement deal with Caddix, said there were times when his feet, ankles and knees would hurt when wearing footwear in the past. And after pitches from multiple footwear companies, he chose not to sign a deal with any of them. That led Caleb's dad, Carl, to ask Williams' longtime quarterbacks coach Tom Gormely if there were any other cleat companies to consider.He knew of one, a small start-up whose moveable cleats were designed to help prevent injury. Rasmussen said prototypes were developed about 12 years ago, and the company was incorporated in 2023. Flacco was the first NFL player to wear them on the field in 2024 while he was with the Indianapolis Colts.In August 2025, Gormely called Rasmussen with a vague message: He had an NFL quarterback as a client who was looking for new cleats.About a month later, after Gormely vetted the technology and the cleats, he told Rasmussen who they were for. As a small brand fighting for a sliver of the NFL cleat market, Rasmussen knew what having a player the caliber of Williams wearing his cleats could do for his brand. However, Gormely didn't want Williams to switch over to Caddix at the start of the 2025 season.Williams started working out in Caddix this offseason. He sprinted, cut and pivoted in them, and trained inside and outside. Throughout their sessions, Williams would provide feedback to Gormely, who would then share it with Caddix."We got to a point where he really liked them," Gormely said. "He was like, 'Dude, these things feel good. I like them.'"In June, with training camp about a month away, Rasmussen needed to sit down with the Bears quarterback. He hopped a flight from his home in Baltimore to where Williams was training in Jacksonville, Florida, to get final measurements and any other last-second changes Williams wanted to make. Rasmussen was in Florida for about 24 hours and left with the final edits to Williams' version of the Caddix O.G. cleat."Caleb is smart and decisive about what he wants, which makes the whole process easy," Rasmussen said. "I've only met him once, but I got the feeling right away that his mind works differently than most players his age."We went through two or three interactions until landing on a final design. The differences between them were incremental, which impressed me because it speaks to how in tune he is with what he wears."Now Williams won't take them off. He said he's been wearing Caddix since the preseason but was not the first two weeks because he wore an all-white version that did not clearly show the logo.Williams has appealed the first fine and will have a hearing on Nov. 10. It's anticipated that Williams will appeal the second fine as well, a source told ESPN."I think my joints, my ankles and my knees and my feet haven't bothered me as much [compared to] the other cleats that I've worn ... where you're consistently playing and you get up one day and your knees hurt or your ankles are hurt and your feet hurt or anything like that," Williams said. "Like I said, they've worked for me and I feel that I feel a difference."That's my opinion, and somebody else can have another."Whatever fine Caddix might pay would likely pale in comparison to the massive publicity associated with Williams and the fines. Caddix even rented billboards around Chicago with the message it will pay Williams' fines.Caddix has 14 investors, according to Rasmussen, including five current and former NFL players. Among them are former tight ends Todd Heap and Dennis Pita, and current players Ja'Kobi Lane of the Baltimore Ravens and Joey Blount of the Arizona Cardinals. NWSL star Kayla Sharples also is an athlete investor.Word about Caddix has slowly spread through the NFL, mainly from word of mouth, players seeing other players wearing them and players seeing them on Instagram. Rasmussen's SmartStuds technology are promoted as allowing the tips of the cleat to move as players move. That is intended to reduce the rotational torque that's transmitted through the foot and into the knees and ankle, a force associated with non-contact ACL tears and other knee and ankle injuries.As an NFL-approved cleat, Caddix can now be purchased by equipment managers and handed out in locker rooms. Rasmussen said all 32 teams have bought at least one run of the cleats. Some are on their second or third purchase, he said."I try to be healthy," Williams said. "They're smart cleats. They're science cleats, and they've been working for me."Courtney Cronin contributed to this story.
