Las Vegas Raiders‘ Maxx Crosby and his partner, Rachel, welcomed their baby, Ella, in October 2022. Since then, he has played almost every game with his daughter on his mind. That was also the case in Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles. In fact, the defensive end admitted he ignored a direct league order to put a smile on his daughter’s face during that game.

“NFL was crying and forced me to take my shoes off,” he said on the Rush podcast, explaining he wore pink cleats to represent his daughter.  “I wanted one [cleats] representing my daughter. It says Ella on the front of them.

“So, I was like, ‘I’m wearing them regardless of what they [NFL] say.’ I’ll take the fine. I don’t care.”

Now, the burning question is: How will the league handle this situation? According to Section 4 of Rule 5 in the NFL playbook, players must wear shoes that follow a standard football design and fall within approved color guidelines.

These colors can be black, white, or those that officially represent the team. Further, players must seek pre-approval from the league office to wear cleats with visible logos, names, or any commercial identification.

And Crosby knows this. That’s the reason he knew he would have to change his cleats once he saw Nico, the person who handles equipment for the team, pop up on the sideline. He brought white cleats with him. So, Crosby went to have a word with Nico, who informed the player, he would be removed from the game if he didn’t change his shoes.

Yet, the player first finished the drive before changing his cleats.

“Those [cleats] are going to be signed and put up in my room or her [daughter’s],” the proud father said. No doubt, Crosby’s move has placed him squarely on the NFL’s radar.

Maxx Crosby asks the league to change its ways

It goes without saying that the player disliked changing his cleats. And it’s not just about his daughter. Crosby dislikes the restrictive rules about the color schemes in general.

After all, many athletes like rocking the best shoes, and the NFL’s rules don’t allow them to express that to their fullest. So, in the same episode, Crosby stated:

“They [NFL] are way too old school with that approach. You should be able to rock whatever cleats you want.”

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Well, Crosby won’t be alone in this criticism. There are several players who have been in similar situations. For instance, the Saints’ Alvin Kamara was fined $5,000 for his non-standard Christmas Day cleats back in 2021. His red-and-green holiday cleats didn’t sit well with the league.

Plus, there is Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, who was fined in December 2024 for wearing mismatched Air Jordan 11 cleats. He led his team to a 27-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it was his choice of footwear that landed him a $5,628 fine for violating the NFL’s uniform and equipment rules.

In the end, the brand confirmed that it would pay the fine. “You can’t ban greatness,” Jordan Brand said in their statement, and perhaps, that is something that Crosby would agree with.