Small footwear company moves into spotlight with Bears QB Caleb Williams wearing its cleats

CHICAGO (AP) — It all began with a phone call. Dr. Tom Gormely reached out to Caddix last year. The sports performance coach told the startup company he had a quarterback who wanted to try its cleats.

“We said, ‘Who?’” Caddix CEO Jack Rasmussen recalled. “And he said, ‘I’ll tell you later.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this is a fun conversation.’”

It turns out the fun was just beginning.

Gormely's client was Chicago Bears star Caleb Williams, and the call marked a watershed moment for Caddix — even if no one knew exactly how it was going to go at the time. Williams started using the cleats this season, and he was fined $11,941 by the NFL for wearing an unauthorized logo in Week 6 at Atlanta and $23,882 for the same infraction in Week 7 against New England.

It was quite a moment for Baltimore-based Caddix, which has four employees and earned just under $2 million in revenue last year.

“To be able to turn around with this press from Caleb Williams and to get what would be tens of millions of dollars in free advertising and conversation, that is a cash cow for a small company,” said Peter Stolpe, a professor in the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon. “That is fantastic news. And it’s even more fantastic news that the player of record is saying, I feel better in these cleats.”

NFL policy prohibits players from displaying unapproved logos on their footwear. The three authorized footwear suppliers for the league are Adidas, Nike and Under Armour. If players decide to use shoes or cleats from another company, all visible third-party names, logos, brands or other commercial identification have to be removed or covered.

Caddix doesn't have a sponsorship deal with Williams — the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft — but Rasmussen has offered to pay the NFL fines. Caddix also provided a blank pair of cleats that Williams used in Monday night's 34-17 win at Seattle, staving off any further punishment from the league.

“Just to calm things down, man,” Williams said.

Caddix cleats have flexible studs that are designed to reduce strain on knees and ankles. Williams helped develop his model with Gormely and Rasmussen, who flew to Florida in June to watch the quarterback throw and work on the final details.

“The cleats, they’ve been great, they’ve been super comfy and they’ve worked,” Williams said. “They are a science type of cleat. ... They call them smart studs, and they move when you move in these hard plants so they take tension off of your tendons and your joints.”

More than 80 NFL players are using Caddix cleats, according to Rasmussen. The list includes Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid.

Kayla Sharples, a defender on the NWSL's Kansas City Current, is an investor in Caddix, and the brand also is popular in women's lacrosse.

San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk said he has been wearing the cleats for two years, and he whites out the logo to avoid a fine.

“I’ve genuinely never slipped since I’ve worn these,” he said.

Carolina Panthers cornerback Will Lee said he started using the cleats after he saw teammate Jaycee Horn wearing them in the offseason.

“They got the rotational studs in the bottom of them, so they help a lot with cuts, breaks on grass fields and turf fields,” he said.

The origins of Caddix trace back to former Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles tearing the ACL in his right knee in October 2015. Rasmussen and his father, Jeff, were watching the game, and they thought it looked like a solvable footwear problem.

Jack Rasmussen was 19 at the time. He was a college dropout and worked as a housekeeper. But he studied biomechanics and physics and applied for a patent with his dad while they developed their idea for cleats.

He eventually went back to school, playing college football as a punter for Missouri Western State and Western New Mexico.

“Honestly, I didn’t play football till I was 23 years old, so I didn’t know much about it,” Rasmussen said. “I didn’t play in high school or anything. ... So being on the football field and watching my teammates complain about their cleats, it was so informational because the best part about cleats is taking them off, you know. So I had testers at my disposal all the time.”

Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco was among a group of roughly 25 NFL players who started wearing the cleats in 2024, and they were approved for on-field use by the league before last season. Flacco and former Baltimore Ravens tight ends Todd Heap and Dennis Pitta are all investors in the company.

Pitta introduced the cleats to Kincaid, who was slowed by knee injuries the past two years. The 27-year-old Kincaid started wearing them during offseason workouts.

“I love them. I’m going to continue to wear them,” Kincaid said. “I actually just texted Dennis, I was like, I need a new pair. They’ve been great to me.”

Rasmussen said Caddix has been selling cleats for 19 months, and the company is working on raising money through a funding round. It could make a recovery or lifestyle shoe down the road.

“It’s pretty rare air that we’re breathing, but it’s exciting,” Rasmussen said. “It’s really tough to quantify. ... It’s an exciting ride.”

AP Pro Football Writers Rob Maaddi and Josh Dubow, and AP Sports Writers John Wawrow, Steve Reed and Will Graves contributed to this report.

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