NFL fans tend to have mixed feelings about uniforms. Many feel that traditional uniforms are semi-sacred and should never be changed at all while others love seeing new designs that represent their favorite team. Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby is in the latter category and believes that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should be too.
In a recent interview with n3on on Kick, Crosby spoke out specifically about shoes and what the NFL does and doesn't allow. He pointed to the way the NBA allows players to wear basically any shoes they want while if he wants to wear pink cleats in the NFL, he gets told off about it.
“The NBA does it right. They let the players do their own shit, rock their own colors,” Crosby said. “In the NFL you can’t wear any color that’s off the jersey, which is low-key lame. I wore pink cleats in Philly this year, I wore them for about two, three drives. They were on the sideline, my equipment guy was looking at me with a pair of my other cleats like, ‘You’ve got to come and take those cleats off because they’re (expletive) about it.’ I’m like, ‘(expletive) that, I’m playing the rest of the series.’ It was third down in the red zone, I got a sack in those pink cleats, and then I had to take them off and I could never wear them again.”
The Message for Goodell
Crosby believes that the NFL should let players wear whatever color shoes they want and points out that the league already relaxes the restriction with the My Cause, My Cleats campaign. He called on Goodell to just let the players "have a little more fun."
“NFL should just let us wear our own colors on our shoes. It’s not that hard. We ain’t hurting anybody,” Crosby said. “We do it every year with My Cause, My Cleats. That’s the only time we get to wear different colored cleats. That’s one game, or two games.
“I love the NFL, but we’ve got to have a little more fun, Roger.”
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
But despite Crosby's impassioned argument, plenty of NFL fans still feel that the traditions of uniforms shouldn't be messed with at all:
"NFL owners have strict uniform rules. They wouldnt let Peyton Manning wear black shoes to honor Johnny Unitas. But some of the old uniforms are great! Like 1970s Chargers uniforms, they should wear those in 2026!" one user remarked.
"No, you need to be a professional being watched by millions of people across the world. You need to be a professional being watched by 10s of 1000s of kids on and off the field. Be a role model not just with you play on the field, but how you carry yourself on & off the field," wrote another.
"Within reason… too much and it’ll be sloppy and not be uniform," a third wrote.
Do you agree with Crosby?
