With legendary coach John Madden passing away in late December, there have been numerous tributes in his honor.
DeSean Jackson wanted to memorialize John Madden with his cleats. The Raiders wide receiver wore cleats paying tribute to the iconic late former NFL coach, broadcaster and pitchman in their game against the Colts on Sunday, but revealed that the league forced him to remove the shoes.
“@NFL hated on me and said if I didn’t take cleats off they was gonna remove me from the game!!” Jackson wrote in his Instagram stories. “I had these made for the legendary John Madden.”
Unfortunately, the NFL does not allow players to put messages on their cleats outside of specific exceptions.
The 35-year-old Jackson caught one ball for five yards in the Raiders’ 23-20 victory over the Colts on Sunday.
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Aside from Jackson’s shoes that he did not get to wear, the Raiders wore a “JM” sticker and added a black stripe to their helmets to pay tribute to the NFL icon.
From 1969 to 1978, John Madden never had a losing season and led the Raiders to the playoffs eight times. Madden led the Raiders to the Super Bowl in 1976 and they beat the Minnesota Vikings to win Super Bowl XI.
