Ravens rookie Ja’Kobi Lane invests in Baltimore-based cleat company

Ahead of the 2026 NFL combine, Ja’Kobi Lane was in the market for a new pair of cleats. He ultimately decided to try out Caddix, an up-and-coming brand based in Baltimore.

He had no idea then that, a few months later, that same city would become his new home, where he has spent training camp quickly becoming one of the Ravens’ most-talked-about rookies.

Now Lane is taking his relationship with the Baltimore company a step further.

When other companies, including Nike and Adidas, offered to pay Lane to become a brand ambassador, he turned them down. Instead, the rookie wide receiver chose to invest in Caddix, putting a portion of his rookie salary into a company hoping to upend the cleat industry with innovative technology meant to limit lower-body injuries.

Caddix announced the deal Wednesday.

“It’s kind of crazy how it all ended up playing out,” Lane said. “Just being able to realize how connected stuff was and how crazy it was that I could be in this position, and then it ended up happening.”

Lane joins Caddix’s growing group of athlete investors, including former Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, retired Ravens tight ends Todd Heap and Dennis Pitta, and professional soccer player Kayla Sharples.

For Caddix founder Jack Rasmussen, Lane’s decision says as much about the rookie as it does about the company.

“I think Ja’Kobi saw it as an opportunity,” Rasmussen said. “He’s trying to increase his long-term wealth and portfolio. That’s very impressive for a guy of his age and position in this world to do.”

Rasmussen said Lane and his agents were told early on that Caddix did not intend to pay athletes to wear its cleats. The company couldn’t compete financially with the endorsement offers Lane was receiving from larger brands.

Instead, Rasmussen offered Lane the chance to invest.

The Baltimore connection, Rasmussen said, was simply a fortunate coincidence.

Lane’s connection to Caddix began through Heap, whose son, Kyle, was Lane’s quarterback at Red Mountain High School in Arizona. Heap had also endorsed Lane to Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta during the draft. Baltimore ended up taking the 6-foot-4 wide receiver in the third round.

In January, Heap called Rasmussen and told him Lane was interested in trying Caddix cleats.

“He loved them,” Rasmussen said.

Lane had dealt with his share of foot issues, including a broken foot in May 2025 that limited him throughout the summer and the early weeks of his junior season at USC. So finding a pair of cleats that allowed him to feel at his best was important.

“I just feel like there’s a lot less pressure on my knees and ankles after working out,” Lane said. “And as a receiver, you kind of want to feel your best and always have your lower body going.”

Lane didn’t view the switch as a knock on Nike, the brand he had worn for years.

At the combine, he wore cleats from both companies. For the 40-yard dash, he had on neon yellow Nike Vapor Edge football cleats. Later he switched to Caddix’s black-and-white O.G. low-cut cleats for the wide receiver position drills.

“I ended up loving the cleats, loving the way they feel,” Lane said. “And then realizing the science behind them and what they do for athletes — it’s all the more reason to wear them.”

Caddix was founded by Baltimore resident Rasmussen, who started the company after becoming convinced that football cleats were contributing to injuries that appeared preventable.

Rasmussen was working as a housekeeper at Zion National Park in Utah when he began thinking seriously about an idea his father had floated years earlier: What if cleats could give way when an athlete planted and cut, rather than locking into the ground?

The idea had been sparked by watching former Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles suffer a non-contact knee injury in 2015.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Rasmussen said. “He went to cut. No one was around him, and you could see the force travel up his leg and his knee buckle, and he was just done.”

He drove home to Maryland and began teaching himself anatomy, physics and biomechanics. As he researched non-contact injuries, he became convinced that cleats — not just the surfaces athletes played on — deserved more scrutiny.

“I was seeing players go down left and right with non-contact injuries that looked preventable from the world’s most athletic, fastest, strongest, quickest athletes ever,” Rasmussen said. “And people always thought it was turf versus grass versus whatever, but the common denominator was the cleats, and no one was kind of pointing to that.”

That eventually led to the creation of Caddix’s SmartStud system, which is designed to allow studs to flex and release from the playing surface more efficiently when an athlete cuts or changes direction, reducing rotational force on the lower body.

In January 2024, Rasmussen posted a video showcasing an early prototype. It went viral overnight. Among those who took notice was Heap, Rasmussen’s childhood hero.

Rasmussen didn’t even have a finished product at the time. Still, after Heap reached out, Rasmussen made the trip to Phoenix to pitch him over lunch.

Heap was intrigued, but he didn’t immediately invest. He spent about four months doing due diligence, speaking with doctors and others who had examined the technology before deciding to put his own money and reputation behind the company.

“I saw the concept, I saw the technology and I said, if this works, it’s going to change cleated sports from here on out,” Heap said.

As a former NFL player, Heap knew firsthand how much athletes think about what they put on their feet. While playing, he said, he was reluctant to change cleats because of how much footwear affected his footwork and the stress he felt in his knees and ankles.

“I hated the feeling of just all the torque I put on my knees and ankles,” Heap said.

Heap eventually brought two more former Ravens into the fold: Pitta and Flacco, who invested in the company alongside him.

Now Lane becomes the first active Ravens player to have a stake.

“Oh, it’s incredible,” Rasmussen said. “It’s like bracketing my favorite team. You know, I get my childhood heroes investing and I get the star of the team right now investing.”

Rasmussen also hopes Lane’s decision can set an example for other young athletes entering professional sports.

“You don’t have to be a dollar amount to a large company,” Rasmussen said. “You can create your own value within a company because you have value yourself.”

For Lane, the decision to invest rather than simply endorse Caddix gives him a stake in a company he believes in — and a connection to his new home that goes beyond football.

“It’s very special,” Rasmussen said. “Having him work with Caddix is tough to put a value to, honestly.”