Which NFL rule forced Eagles star A.J. Brown to change his cleats, disappointing his daughter in the process?

The Philadelphia Eagles sit in the glorious list of a few teams having a 3-0 record this season. After getting enrolled in the Philly roster last year, the star wide receiver A.J. Brown helped the franchise to make a Super Bowl run last year, albeit they ultimately went down to the Kansas City Chiefs.

However, Brown’s 2023 season has already been marked by some dramas as most recently, he got involved in a heated altercation with his quarterback Jalen Hurts at the start of the fourth quarter of the match against the Minnesota Vikings. Though he later disclosed having no brawl with the signal-caller, the veteran has clearly pointed out his grudge against an NFL rule that made him change his cleats in the middle of a game.

Which NFL rule forced A.J. Brown to change his shoes?

In the Eagles‘ recent match against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brown ditched his neon cleats in the middle of the game. Some fans and analysts speculated that the reason behind it was the slippery grass due to rain at Raymond James Stadium.

However, it was revealed later that the veteran was actually forced to put off his cleats as the NFL rule allows players to wear only white, black, or franchise-colored footwear on the field while the customized cleats are allowed only once per season during ‘My Cause My Cleats’ weekend.

The Philly star himself clarified the incident on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, by retweeting a post, where a page shared a video asking if the league forced him to change the cleats.

“Yes they did. No Fun League strikes again!” he wrote with a thumb-down emoji.

The wide receiver had to switch to black cleats afterward when the team’s equipment manager, Greg Delimitros, informed him of the matter. However, it remains uncertain why the authorities didn’t prevent him from wearing the non-conforming shoes at the start of the game and why the decision came midway through.

A.J. Brown was frustrated with NFL rule that disallowed him to fulfill his daughter’s wish

Brown narrowly avoided a $7,000 fine for a first-time offense by changing his shoes after being called upon. However, he seemed utterly disappointed with the league’s rule and slammed the authorities for not allowing players to wear whatever they wanted, openly calling for a player’s movement against the rule.

“Yeah, that rule sucks. 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. So I think we should start that movement as players.”

From the WR’s perspective, the decision to wear the neon shoes was aimed at making his daughter happy, who had complained about not recognizing her father on the field, as every player was wearing similar cleats.

“I wear the cleats because of my daughter… so she can easily spot me. Whenever I wear black cleats or something like that, it’s hard for her to spot me. I think everybody knew where I was on the field with the cleats, definitely my daughter.”

However, Brown was on the verge of facing a violation of the NFL’s uniform policy and was at risk of being forced to leave the game if he did not change it afterward. Though his kid was unhappy with the change, he had no other option.

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