You might argue what players wear on their feet can make or break their performance. One thing we know this week is the cleats players wear will make an impact far beyond the field.
Every week NFL players wear the same uniforms, mandated by the league. An unapproved change comes with a fine.
But in week 13, the NFL is allowing players to wear custom cleats with a message.
Washington tight end, Vernon Davis says it's a great opportunity, “to go out and showcase cleats and bring awareness to whatever you’re doing which is a great thing.”
Davis will honor his Foundation for the Arts during the NFL's “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins will wear his for the International Justice Mission, a non-profit that works to protect people from human trafficking, slavery and sexual assault.
“They are a voice for people who don’t have a voice and they’re creating justice and a legal system for places that don’t have one. It's powerful stuff to hear the testimonies from people they’ve rescued,” said Cousins.
Pierre Garcon will catch balls for his Helping Hands Foundation.
“It's basically whatever we can do in the community, how we can help out from building basketball courts in a church to building playgrounds to help re-building schools in Haiti," said Garcon. "We’re not dedicated to one area or one location [we] help out anywhere we feel we can provide a need."
Defensive End Ricky Jean Francois says he's wearing cleats "to represent all the HBCU schools around the country. I want to rock those, do something different and pay tribute to those schools."
The NFL says about 500 players will wear customized cleats this week.
