Caddix Cleats are Built to Let Go

As famous college dropouts go, Jack Rasmussen’s name might not roll off the tongue like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

But it’s hard not to think of those tech revolutionaries when Rasmussen rants about the prevalence of non-contact injuries in football, soccer and lacrosse — and the shoe companies that have long ignored athletes’ needs.

“I’m inherently bad at business,” said Rasmussen, a former junior college basketball player and Division II punter. “I don’t care about money or status. I just want to help people.”

Rasmussen was 19 and working as a housekeeper at Zion National Park when he wrote his first patent for the force-mitigating shoe sole technology that would become the foundation of Caddix, the cleat manufacturer that has put the footwear industry on notice.

The idea took shape nearly a decade earlier when Rasmussen and his father, Jeff, watched Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles tear his ACL. “He was in the open field, no one around him. And he went down,” Rasmussen said. “There’s this contentious debate between grass and turf. No one wants to talk about the common denominator. You have to wear cleats on both.”

Rasmussen spent a year studying biomechanics. He describes a metric called the release coefficient, the rate at which cleats release from the playing surface when dragged, spun or rotated. Caddix’s technology features a post and rubber washer within each stud that balances grip and release.

“We have 18 patents now, and they’re all based around a proprietary tech that allows flexible, force-mitigating materials,” he said. “Where the sole meets the stud — that little bowl, that intersection, that junction point — is where the magic happens.”

The first Caddix cleats went to retail in December 2024. Rasmussen, a Maryland native, brought on Baltimore Ravens legends Joe Flacco, Todd Heap and Dennis Pitta as investors. He says Caddix was the third-most worn cleat in the NFL last season. About 30 NFL players currently wear the brand, with that number projected to grow to nearly 100. None are paid to do so. Tom Brady sported the cleats during the Fanatics Flag Football Tournament.

Caddix entered the lacrosse market in February 2025 and has gained traction. Among players wearing the cleats are Anna Brandt, Kori Edmondson, TJ Malone and McCabe Millon. In April, Caddix and USA Lacrosse announced a multi-year partnership making the brand an official footwear provider for U.S. National Team and Youth National Team athletes.

“These are the best lacrosse players in the world,” Rasmussen said. “We want to equip the best with the best. It was a no-brainer.”

Learn more about the science at Caddix.com.