SEATTLE — For weeks 13 and 14 in the NFL, players throughout the league have been displaying specially designed cleats as part of the My Cause My Cleats campaign to raise awareness for causes they are passionate about.
Seahawks own DK Metcalf took part in the campaign as he partnered with two groups: Prison Fellowship and Sound Behavioral Health.
The technology that designed the cleats was Amazon Web Services using generative AI that would produce the design based on certain keywords for each cause. Metcalf wore the cleats during their week 13 win against the Jets.
“I just think it’s a good thing that the NFL has going to bring awareness to players and what they support off the field,” Metcalf said during Wednesday’s press conference.
Prison Fellowship is a Christian nonprofit that helps those who have been or are currently incarcerated and their families advocate for justice and human dignity inside and out of prison.
Jermaine Wilson Jr, a mission ambassador for the group, understands the power of second chances. He spent 3 years in prison on narcotics charges and because of Prison Fellowship, he was able to turn his life around.
“That with hard work, faith in God and resiliency, you can succeed and accomplish your goals and still help make a difference in society,” Wilson Jr. said.
Sound Behavioral Health is an organization in King County that helps provide services to those with physical and developmental disabilities. Metcalf has partnered specifically with the group’s Deaf Services Program.
“But just to bring along Sound, a local organization that I can start to support. I mean, it just brings more eyes to the causes they have at hand,” Metcalf said.
President and CEO Katrina Egner says when they reached out to DK’s team about the partnership, Metcalf was just as excited as they were.
“Watching him play that Sunday with that cleat on his right foot…it was incredible!” Egner said.
Egner says Metcalf’s fascination with American Sign Language is truly incredible to see and is thankful to have a person of Metcalf’s status advocate for them.
“The deaf and hard of hearing community is so unseen and so invisible,” Egner said.
Both groups say they are forever thankful for the experience of designing those cleats with DK, but they’d argue having a person like Metcalf use his platform as a voice for those who need it goes beyond any victory on the field.
“And he’s using his platform to stand for individuals who can’t stand for themselves. He’s using his voice to speak on behalf of individuals who don’t have a voice and he’s bringing hope to those who feel hopeless,” Wilson Jr. said.
“It brings an awareness on a national stage that we’ve never had,” Egner said.
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