NFL players are no strangers to making strong fashion statements. However, the league doesn’t allow them that much freedom to express themselves. Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby experienced this firsthand, forcing him to miss out on making a special gesture for his daughter.

“The shoe game. NBA does it right,” Crosby told N3ON during a recent livestream, when asked about a rule he’d like to change. “… Players get creative with how they want to be swagged out. In the NFL, you can’t even wear, like, any color that’s off the jersey, which is lowkey lame. … NFL shouldn’t be tripping, bro.”

Crosby then recalled last year’s Week 15 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He wore pink rose-patterned Air Jordan 11s with ‘Ella’ written on the front. It was a tribute to his daughter, Ella Rose. But the NFL didn’t allow it.

He saw his equipment guy on the sidelines with his standard pair of cleats. Even though he can’t wear the cleats on the field again, he claims they were legendary. 

“Jordan designed them pink with roses for my daughter. They made me take them off. So, I had to get a sack in them… NFL should just let us wear our own colors with our shoes. It’s not that hard, bro. And it ain’t hurting anybody” 

Under current NFL rules, players can wear cleats in black, white, or team-specific colors. But if they want to wear cleats with visible logos, names, or commercial identification, they need to get pre-approval from the league office. 

Well, Crosby isn’t the only NFL star to clash with the league over footwear rules. Former Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown also faced a similar issue when he wore neon cleats and a matching mouthguard in a Monday Night Football game against the Buccaneers in September 2023. He said on social media that he did so because his daughter would be able to identify him.

Of course, the receiver had to change back into his usual cleats mid-game and wasn’t happy with it. 

“That rule sucks,” he said. “I really tried to bend the rules a little bit, but I think all players should just wear whatever they want to wear. They’re not going to be able to fine everybody in the league.”

Right now, the only avenue for such self-expression is in the league’s charitable ‘My Cause, My Cleats’ games. Maxx Crosby didn’t seem happy about that since it’s just a couple of games when he can put on the pink Jordans and play for his daughter.