Source: Bears QB Caleb Williams fined again for cleats - ESPN

Caleb Williams' decision to wear Caddix cleats is becoming costly.

The NFL has fined the Chicago Bears quarterback $23,882 for sporting Caddix cleats in Week 7, a source confirmed to ESPN on Thursday. That is double the fine ($11,941) Williams received for wearing the same shoe in his return from a hamstring injury in Week 6, issued because the shoe contains an «unauthorized logo.»

Only Nike, Adidas and Under Armour have partnerships with the NFL, which is why Williams was fined for a uniform violation. If a player chooses to wear a shoe by another brand, the logo must be covered.

Williams told ESPN on Wednesday that he does not plan to cover or black out the Caddix logo when he wears the cleats for Chicago's game at the Seattle Seahawks on Monday. He has already appealed his Week 6 fine, according to a source, which Caddix says the company will pay if Williams loses his appeal.

«From a safety metric perspective, Caleb's cleats are one of the safest pairs players can wear,» Caddix founder Jack Rasmussen said in a statement to ESPN. «Regardless if this is a marketing fine or not, I'm happy to pay it.»

Williams wore Caddix cleats throughout the preseason and during the Bears' first two regular-season games. After missing Weeks 3 through 5 because of a hamstring injury, he returned to action against the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots, becoming the first Bears quarterback since Mitchell Trubisky (2018) to record back-to-back 300-yard passing games.

Founded in 2015, Caddix was built around patented «SmartStuds» technology, which is «designed to flex and release during cutting and pivoting, reducing rotational torque transmitted through the foot and into the knees and ankles, a force associated with noncontact ACL