Ravens' Nate Wiggins Trying to Keep NFL Tradition Alive With Cleats

NFL fans old enough to remember the 2010s can still visualize how differently players expressed themselves compared to how they make statements today. The extended reach and viral nature of social media helped provide major boosts to a number of trends that have since petered out, but just because a fashion wave's disappeared from the mainstream doesn't mean it should stay dead.

October came and went near the start of the league's regular season, and your average viewer could have very easily forgotten that the NFL month used to go hand-in-hand with breast cancer awareness. The pink gloves and cleats that players once regularly donned have largely disappeared, and Nate Wiggins of the Baltimore Ravens is attempting to counteract that growing disconnect.

"Growing up, I feel like it was a thing for all football players [in] October, you gotta wear pink. I feel like the NFL's trying to take it away, I don't know, why is that," the star cornerback said in an interview with On SI. "But each year I'm a supporter."

Back to Basics

Wiggins' means of getting awareness back up led him to My Cause, My Cleats, a campaign that's closely partnered with the NFL in sparking creativity while inserting cherished messaging back into the sport. There, plenty of players and other figures closely affiliated with the league's on-field product have spent the last decade using their shoes to advertise causes close to their hearts.

For someone like Wiggins, who's still himself learning how to spread awareness on the matter, doing his own research on early detecting and screening is just another way to ingratiate himself to the city of Baltimore, where he's spent the first year and change of his professional career.

As a prominent up-and-comer on one of the more relevant teams in the association, his focus carries meaning. And given his interest in looking good while snagging interceptions, a category he leads his squad in, he wants to look good while thriving.

"Most of the cleats was hands-on with me," the 22-year-old said. "Everything that goes into the cleats has meaning to it."

Baltimore Ravens Cornerback Nate Wiggins — Dec 7, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins (2) reacts after a play against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Breast cancer is certainly deserving of all of the attention its commanded in Wiggins' memory, a ravaging super-spreader that invades vital organs and still finds numerous ways to prevail despite nonstops advancements in treatment.

But according to the Ravens fixture looking to combat the league's stranglehold on expressions and potential distractions, "They want everything to be just NFL."

Former Minnesota Vikings Cornerback Jabari Price — Oct 12, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings cornerback Jabari Price (39) gets ready to play the Detroit Lions and wears pink gloves to bring attention to breast cancer during the month of October at TCF Bank Stadium. The Lions win 17-3. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

That's been a theme among most major American sports over the past decade, where the NFL's been no different in the rest in taking strides to combat any major differences in apparel. Overly-tinted helmet visors and branded cleats have been more-or-less wiped out to enforce uniformity, just as ninja headbands and chains exited the NBA scene around the turn of the 2020s.

Wiggins hasn't been the first to call the league out on this affair, with their public move from Pink October emitting a pretty public signal of their change in interest. Organizations like My Cause, My Cleats open up the floodgates for players and coaches to pick what they'd like to prop up, but Wiggins just wants to return to what he knows best in moving forward on his most recent partnership.

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