The Best NFL Cleats from Week 1
The NFL season is finally underway and in addition to living and dying by missed field goals, that means tunnel fits, warm-up cleats, and in-game heat from our favorite players across the league. Following the lead of the NBA’s fashion-obsessed entrance fits, NFL players have made sure games double as fashion shows, bringing out limited pieces and sneakers pre-game, and taking the field in player exclusives and customs.
Week 1 was full of insane comebacks and collapses on the field and heat on-foot. With that, these are our favorite cleats from the weekend.
Travis Hunter - adidas AE 1 Cleat
A second overall pick straight from the spotlight at Coach Prime’s Colorado to playing both sides of the ball and helping the Jaguars to a week 1 win, Travis Hunter’s welcome to the league moment was everything he’d hoped, right down to the cleats. Hunter was already making headlines before the game
started, debuting the first adidas AE 1 Cleat in warm-ups.
Hunter turned speculation into reality, popping out in the same Best of Adi black and white colorway we saw in leaked photos earlier this year. This pair is particularly special because it will actually drop later in 2026, a release we are almost certain will turn the high school football world upside down.
Jalen Hurts - Jordan 11 Cleat
Jalen Hurts is riding high. The Super Bowl champion led the Eagles to a week 1 win over the Cowboys in style, breaking out a pair of black patent leather Jordan 11 cleats to break down the depleted Dallas defense.
Covered in black patent leather with a gold Jumpman logo on the ankle and white spikes underneath, the cleats popped against the white pants of the Eagles’ home jerseys during every Hurts scramble, and there were a lot of Hurts scrambles. Hurts has secured his spot atop the Jordan Brand football totem pole with a new Love, Hurts clothing capsule dropping next week, so expect even more PE heat for the rest of the season.
Jayden Daniels - Kobe 6 Cleat
It’s only right that we picked three winners for the top spot this week. Another quarterback coming correct from the court to the turf, Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels kept his Kobe tendencies going, pulling out a white, red, and gold pair of Kobe 6 cleats to perfectly match the Commanders' home whites.
Daniels is signed to Nike, and he’s used the Swoosh connection to put spikes on mambas, bringing out a few custom colorways of the Kobe 6 cleat to obvious success. It doesn’t matter what sport you play, mamba mentality is mamba mentality.
Those were our three favorite pairs to hit the field this week, but that wasn’t close to all the heat we saw. Check out Sole Retriever on Instagram for even more of our favorite cleats from week 1 of the NFL.
Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com
