The ‘My Cause My Cleats’ will be making its annual return this upcoming week, and as always, the Denver Broncos have a number of immaculate cleats, which they’ll be donning and eventually auctioning off for charity.
Russell Wilson, likely the biggest celebrity on the team, will be wearing the below pair of cleats in support of the Why Not You Foundation and the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson’s cleats for ‘My Cause My Cleats’ Initiative.
“I’m super excited, obviously,” Wilson said of the charity opportunity, on Wednesday. “I think the NFL does a great job with ‘My Cause My Cleats’ and allowing players to—all of us have had people we’ve lost or people that mean something to us. My foundation, the ‘Why Not You Foundation’—my dad used to always say, ‘Why not you?’ Our foundation—we’ve done a lot of cool stuff with pediatric cancer and all that. We’ve seen some amazing kids overcome obstacles. What we did was we had a pretty cool designer. Artmando helped me with this design. I told him I wanted to have the Rocky Mountain High in the design. I wanted to have a kid on the side and everything else. Obviously, ‘Why Not You,’ the blue, the orange and all that. Then also, we wanted to help represent the ‘Jimmy V Foundation.’ Ciara and I are fortunate enough to be on the board of ‘Jimmy V Foundation’, so we want to help support that, too, and cancer research. We put—obviously, I went to NC State, and obviously, ‘Jimmy V’ (Jim Valvano) was an amazing coach there. He used to say, ‘Don’t give up, don’t ever give up,’ so we put that on the writing, too. It’s just to honor the youth and young kids around the world who are going through stuff and challenges. I’ll be wearing these on Sunday.”
Wilson’s charitable efforts are far from a secret, so it’s no surprise to see him go all out here.
Considering Justin Simmons’ reputation, it’s not shocking to see him go even further and get two pairs of cleats made for the event.
Denver Broncos S Justin Simmons’ Play60 pair of cleats for the ‘My Cause My Cleats’ Initiative.
‘I have two pairs of cleats. I’ve done this for the past few years now,” Simmons told the media on Wednesday. “On my left-hand side is the ‘Fuel Up to Play 60’ cleats done by Breanna Berry. She always does a great job; she does mostly guy’s cleats, I believe. They look cool with a lot of paint splatter. She has just the freedom to kind of go away with it. I always find that your cleats look better when you do that and just let the artist go crazy. Then these on my right-hand side—my other pair of cleats—are going to be the ‘Justin Simmons Foundation’ cleats. These are pretty special. They’re done by two Boys and Girls Club members. Eunique, who most of you guys are familiar with. She’s done a pair of my cleats before. Eunique is the one that painted them, but the design was actually done by another club member. Her name is Aty. She’s a really cool artist and she does amazing work. I don’t know if you guys can see the detail on there, but she designed them. It’s pretty cool work. It’s really special when you get to work with really cool people like that. Those are my cleats, my foundation and the ‘Fuel Up to Play 60.'”
Denver Broncos S Justin Simmons’ pair of cleats for the ‘My Cause My Cleats’ Initiative representing his own foundation.
Simmons also discussed how one interesting aspect of the ‘My Cause My Cleats’ initiative is getting to see which charities are most meaningful to each player, and the story behind that meaning.
“That’s my favorite thing about ‘My Cause My Cleats.’ We’re able to see the different things that guys are passionate about or the history behind [them]. For some guys, it’s cancer. Some guys it’s animal relief. There’s a whole bunch of things and avenues and organizations that you could support or avenues that you could walk down. That’s the coolest thing about ‘My Cause My Cleats.’ You look and you’re admiring the artwork, but then you are looking closer and paying attention to what’s near and dear to that person’s heart, which a lot of times, you just don’t know.”
That’s clearly demonstrated when looking at the list of cleats the Denver Broncos currently have up on their site.
WR Jerry Jeudy’s cleats for the ‘My Cause My Cleats’ initiative
WR K.J. Hamler’s cleats for the ‘My Cause My Cleats’ initiative.
Jerry Jeudy’s cleats for the Trisomy 18 Foundation are always a standout, and K.J. Hamler’s nod to the loss of his late grandmother is undeniably heartfelt, though Broncos fans should make sure to check them all out, over on the Broncos website.