The Dolphins' Causes for 'Cleats' Weekend
For the sixth consecutive season, the Miami Dolphins and the entire NFL will be showcasing causes near and dear to their heart during the My Cause, My Cleats initiative.
For the game against the New York Giants on Sunday, Dolphins players and coaches will be wearing cleats (or sneakers for coaches) with individual designs meant to highlight their cause of choice.
Following Week 13 games, hundreds of players will donate their cleats by auctioning them on NFL Auction where 100% of funds raised will be donated to the charities they select. Fans may bid on these cleats at NFL.com/Auction starting today. To learn more about each player's cause visit NFL.com/mycausemycleats.
Here's a rundown of Dolphins players talking about the cause they'll be highlighting Sunday:
BLAKE FERGUSON
Nonprofit: JDRF Cause: Juvenile diabetes research
"My mom likes to tell the story all the time of when we were driving to the hospital after I just learned that I had Type 1 Diabetes. She looked over and I was on my phone looking at famous athletes with Type 1 Diabetes. I was looking at names like Jay Cutler and seeing that this had been done before. I wanted reassurance that I could still do everything that I wanted to do in life with Type 1 Diabetes. I was fortunate enough to have some encouragement from some professional athletes. Guys like Brad Suttle, who was playing for the Yankees organization at the time, he reached out to me and just gave me the encouragement that I am trying to pass along to the young kids who are being diagnosed with Type 1 today. There is nothing about this disease that can stop you from doing what you want to do.”
JEROME BAKER
NonProfit: Expand the Land Foundation Cause: Youth education and mentorship
“A lot of my friends from back home in Cleveland are from the inner city and were a lot better than me in a lot of different areas. If it was the classroom, the football field or whatever it was – they were a lot better. What I realized is I got to this level not because of my talent or what I was blessed with, it was the people around me who truly helped me get to this level. For me, I want to be a support system for pretty much any kid in the inner city. If you want to be an artist, I want to get you the resources to further go into that field. If you want to be a lawyer, I want to get you the resources to further go into that field. For me, I wanted my foundation to essentially be, to truly expand the resources that I was blessed to have.”
Jerome Baker's cleats
Miami Dolphins
VINCE BIEGEL
Non-Profit: Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association Cause: Advocacy for youth in sports with special needs
“This year I chose the Adaptive Fitness Program at the University of Wisconsin. The reason why I chose that is not only because it means a lot to my wife and I but also my wife worked there when she was in college and was able to work with some of the students and some of the people in the community. To be able to represent this program and all it does for the University of Wisconsin and all it does for the community means a lot to me, my wife and our family. I’ll be wearing these on Sunday with great honor.”
MIKE GESICKI
Non-Profit: Penn State THON Cause: Pediatric cancer research and family resources
“My cause is THON. It is a pediatric cancer awareness group at Penn State. It’s important to me because obviously going to Penn State, helping these families and kids with cancer by putting smiles on their faces and just raising awareness to their cause.”
JEVON HOLLAND
Non-Profit: Blue Marine Foundation Cause: Ocean conservancy
“A lot of life starts in the ocean. Everybody drinks water and that’s where our main water supply is. I think people on the west coast and the east coast, of any country, they thrive economically in terms of fishing. That provides a lot of money for people, jobs and things like that. I think it’s important for all of us to keep the Earth, the planet and especially the oceans safe and clean. Whenever there’s an oil leak, a lot of animals die and that’s not good for the environment ... I hope that people start cleaning up the ocean. I think it’s important that we all step in especially with global warming, climate change and things like that. It’s important to keep these animals safe because they are a part of our ecosystem and they help us live and we help them.”
ROBERT HUNT
Non-Profit: Special Olympics Cause: Access to sports for those with intellectual disabilities
“I chose Special Olympics because a very special person in my heart and in my life, Hanna, my best buddy, is a Special Olympics queen. She does all the events. I think it’s a great thing for kids with special needs to do. It’s fun to watch those kids enjoy and do what they like to do. That’s why I chose Special Olympics – mainly because of my best buddy Hanna.”
AUSTIN JACKSON
Non-Profit: Be The Match Cause: Bone marrow donation education and advocacy
“Be The Match is a nonprofit where they specifically focus on finding donors, bone marrow donors for kids with different types of cancers and rare blood diseases. For me, it just hit home. My younger sister actually grew up with a rare blood disease. Seeing her go to the hospital and seeing all the kids in the hospital living with that, that’s just a tough thing to be handed in life. Be The Match does recruits people from all of the world to see if they can donate their bone marrow. What a lot of people don’t know is that it’s a super easy procedure. I did it myself for my younger sister back in 2019. I did it myself and I was still able to play football, go to the draft and all that stuff. I think a big thing for me is just spreading awareness about it, making sure that people are aware of these kids that have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis and just get the word out there.”
JAELAN PHILLIPS
Non-Profit: JDRF Cause: Juvenile diabetes research
“The cause that I chose was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I chose that because my cousin, Sophia, was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and I just wanted to show my support.”
ELANDON ROBERTS
Non-Profit: American Heart Association Cause: Heart disease awareness and prevention
“Heart disease awareness means a lot to me. It runs in my family. I had a grandmother, a lot of family members and also my aunt, who passed away early from it. She was 42, so it’s near and dear to my heart. I’m just trying to help as many people as I can because it’s really a silent killer in all communities.”
DUKE RILEY
Non-Profit: Little Rascals Foundation Cause: Education in the arts for foster youth
“I chose Little Rascals, a foundation for foster kids and foster youth helping them with anything. It’s my fiancé’s foundation. She was a foster kid so it’s giving back to the foster kids. We went to Dash Homes last week and fed them Thanksgiving dinner. It’s all about giving back to the kids who don’t have anything because I was a kid who didn’t have much.”
ERIC ROWE
Non-Profit: International Justice Mission Cause: Social justice and ending violence against people living in poverty
“I did an internship last year with IJM. I was working with a division in Guatemala and they were trying to help rescue women and children from modern day slavery ... When you hear the word slavery you think of the 1700s and 1800s, mostly African American men, women and children. But really, slavery dates all the way back the B.C. era. It didn’t matter what race you were, the whole definition was taking over someone’s free will for labor and basically just using them. With today’s world, it’s not just African Americans that are slaves. There’s people out there in India, Asia and even Australia where men, women and children are being used for free labor. When I hear those stories, I’m heartbroken and I’m glad I can try to do something about it.”
ZACH SIELER
Non-Profit: Sieler Safe Haven Foundation Cause: Advocacy for youth outdoor education and accessibility
“We just opened our foundation recently in the last month or two. We had a young man come out, about 12 years old, who went in for surgery and ended up coming out a quadriplegic. We were able to take him out on a hunt. To see the emotions and the happiness and joy it brought to his life spun our idea for our foundation. What we are doing is we want to help kids who usually can’t get outdoors be able to go outdoors and be able to enjoy the outdoors. Take a group of kids out to some land in central Florida and just see what it’s like to be outdoors, do bonfires or s’mores or anything like that and teach them cultural enrichment about the land, about how we came to have this land and the history of Florida.”
TUA TAGOVAILOA
Non-Profit: Tua Foundation Cause: Support for youth initiatives, health and wellness
“The Tua Foundation is a foundation that is able to give back to places that have helped me become who I am, which is in Hawaii, Alabama and also Florida. Some of the things that I’m most proud of that my foundation does is not just being able to give back to kids that don’t have as much with sports equipment and whatnot but also scholarship funding for school."
Tua Tagovailoa's cleats
Miami Dolphins
JAYLEN WADDLE
Non-Profit: Be The Match Cause: Sickle cell cure research/bone marrow donation advocacy
“This is important to me because I have the sickle cell trait. I recently found out I had the trait when I got to college, so I grew up never really knowing I had the trait. I think it’s something that everyone should figure out and know. It’s a condition that you should look out for as it can be severe.”
Jaylen Waddle's cleats
Miami Dolphins
ALBERT WILSON
Non-Profit: Albert Wilson Foundation Cause: Resources and mentorship for foster care youth
"My foundation is the Albert Wilson Foundation. I work with a lot of foster kids and the reason why this cause is so important to me is because my sisters and I were raised in the foster care system. I think we know some of the difficulties and some of the challenges they’re facing, so we just try to make their lives as best we can and help them out with doing turkey drives or toy drives or just coming and mentoring them, sitting there talking to them and making sure they’re having a good day.”
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Here's the rest of the causes that will be highlighted by players and coaches:
DOLPHINS COACHES
Head coach Brian Flores — Dolphins Challenge Cancer (cancer research and awareness
Special teams coordinator — Autism Speaks (autism research and awareness)
Co-offensive coordinator/RB coach Eric Studesville — Donate Life Florida (organ donation awareness)
Cornerbacks coach Charles Burks — Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Linebackers coach Anthony Campanile — ChadTough Foundation (pediatric brain cancer research and awareness)
Defensive line coach Austin Clark — Dolphins Challenge Cancer
Assistant OL coach Shawn Flaherty — Tom Coughlin Jay Fund (helping families affected by pediatric cancer)
Wide receivers coach Josh Grizzard — Foundation Fighting Blindness
Offensive line coach Lemuel Jeanpierre — Dolphins Challenge Cancer
Assistant TE coach Mike Judge — Wounded Warrior Project (support of wounded military veterans)
Assistant DB coach Curt Kuntz — Talk Is Cheap (youth mentoring)
Quality control coach Kolby Smith — Dolphins Challenge Cancer
Assistant strength and conditioning coach Jim Arthur — Autism Speaks
DOLPHINS PLAYERS
Salvon Ahmed — 5000 Role Models (youth mentoring)
Jacoby Brissett — Dolphins Challenge Cancer Cancer
Adam Butler — Lotus House (sanctuary and support for homeless women and children
Raekwon Davis — Voices for Children Advocacy Center (advocacy/resources for abused and neglected children )
Sam Eguavoen — Epilepsy Florida (epilepsy research and awareness
Liam Eichenberg — TAPS (support for military families who have lost loved ones)
Myles Gaskin — Boys & Girls Club (youth mentoring )
Mack Hollins — Dolphins Challenge Cancer
Noah Igbinoghene — Values Matter Miami (youth mentoring)
Brandon Jones — Dell Childrens Foundation (pediatric cancer research and resources)
Byron Jones — CJD Foundation (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease research and awareness)
Benito Jones — Autism Speaks
Robert Jones — CHAMPS Male Mentoring Program (youth mentoring)
Solomon Kindley — Progressive Fire Fighters Association (minority first responders/youth water safety)
Patrick Laird — DonorsChoose (youth education/classroom resources)
Greg Little — Muscular Dystrophy Association (muscular dystrophy research and awareness)
Hunter Long — Cush It To The Limit (rare blood cancers research and awareness
Kirk Merritt — Dolphins Challenge Cancer Cancer
Nik Needham — 88 Blessings (single parents and family resources)
Emmanuel Ogbah — Prostate Cancer Foundation (prostate cancer research)
Jason Sanders — Wounded Warrior Project
Durham Smythe — Weish 4 Ever (pediatric cancer resources and financial relief)
Andrew Van Ginkel — Susan G. Komen For the Cure (breast cancer research and awareness)
Preston Williams — Ocean Clean Up (ocean conservancy and recycling)
Trill Williams — Huizenga Humane Society of Broward County (animal justice and cruelty prevention)
