Soccer Cleats 101 Soccer Cleats News and Reviews
After seeing Brandon Marshall wearing the lime green Nike Hypervenoms a few weeks ago, I couldn’t resist checking out what NFL kickers wear. After all, the kickers are the ones that have to put the ball through the giant yellow field goal with the eyes of around 70,000 people watching them. To be honest if that was me, I definitely couldn’t take the pressure, even if I knew how to kick a field goal. The top kickers need all the help they can get, and a pair of reliable boots is definitely a top factor.
So how do we find out what these kickers look for in their boots? The best idea would be to take a look at what they wear. We’ll take a look at the top five teams and what their kickers wear, because the top NFL teams need a good kicker if they want to win.
Note: These are the kickers from the top 5 current teams, not the top 5 kickers overall.
5. Garrett Hartley – New Orleans Saints
A couple of years ago, Bryan highlighted New Orleans kicker Garrett Hartley wearing two different Under Armour cleats in a Super Bowl Victory. Although Garrett Hartley has moved on from the Under Armour Create on his left and the Dominate on his right, he is still sporting Under Armour cleats. He wears a pair of Under Armour Hydrastrike II Pros on his kicking foot and has helped keep the Saints a top team over the past few years.
[Also: UA Hydrastrike II Review]
4. Adam Vinatieri – Indianapolis Colts
Another wearer of the Under Armour Hydrastrike II Pros, Vinatieri has won four super bowls in his career. He is accurate and calm under pressure. Vinatieri is sometimes known as “The Iceman” or “Automatic Adam” because of his traits. He has also had two game winning kicks in the finals of two of his super bowls. It is also interesting to note that he wears the Hydrastikes on both feet, not just his kicking foot like many other NFL kickers.
3. Matt Prater – Denver Broncos
The customized CTR360 Trequartistas Matt Prater wears are color coordinated with his blue and orange Bronco’s jersey. A basic white upper with blue and gold highlights match nicely and there isn’t anything flashy standing out. If all NFL kickers customized their cleats to match I would tune in to a couple more games just to see it!
2. Steven Hauschka – Seattle Seahawks
As part of the breast cancer awareness month, Hauschka has added a pink ribbon to his Mercurial Vapor VI boot. Although, his boot doesn’t match his jersey perfectly, the ribbon is a nice touch. Also, kind of off topic but I personally think that the Seahawks jersey is the best looking jersey in the NFL with the neon and the dark blue.
1. Ryan Succop – Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are currently ranked number one, and their kicker Ryan Succop is doing his best to keep it that way. He wears Adidas Copa Mundials on his kicking foot. Perhaps he likes the thick kangaroo leather, or maybe he just likes the idea of wearing classic boots!
So what do kickers look for in their boots?
Looking at kickers across the league and what they wear, it is relatively safe to say that they look for a kangaroo leather upper or a synthetic leather upper (aside from players like Hauschka who wear Mercurials). I would say that they probably like the extra cushioning and grip that they get from the leather upper.
What would you wear if you wear a football kicker? Let us know in the comments below!
Nice article, thank you guys.
I would select any boot with leather upper if I was an NFL kicker. If not, I will go barefoot..(-:
My choices would be, Puma King, Adidas Worldcup or Nike Tiempo legend.
Hey Andy,
I have to agree with your boot choices if I was a NFL kicker, except I would definitely ID the tiempos to match my team's jersey!
I always wondered why I never saw any kickers wearing the adipower predators when those were around.. It seemed like that boot was made to allow for long kicks and as a 3-time owner I can say they do that job wonderfully.
It seems as if the "power" boots such as the predators, T90s when they were around, and powercats aren't that popular with kickers. I have no idea why because it seems like they would be a good option.
hey guys as a kicker myself, I do not like the power boots because for kicking, we want a flat, smooth surface to kick off of, and the technology the T90s and Predators bring seem to interfere with my kicks too much. I wear the Nitrcharge 1.0
That is a good point, an even surface definitely gives you a clean feel on the ball.
Agreed – great feedback and it makes complete sense. The Nitrocharge is actually an interesting choice, but they make sense!
That makes sense. The T90s used to have those weird pods and the last version had a mess of rubber on the strike zone, and I could see how the predator zone could interfere with a football more than a soccer ball. Tiempos seem like the best option with all of that in mind.
Blair Walsh wears Mercurial Vapors the Black/white/Pink
Hey I read something like this the other day!
http://www.soccerpro.com/theinstep/soccer-boots-i…
Must be the 'in' thing at the moment…
I am a kicker in High School and I find that a solid leather boot like Tiempos is the best for you. They also fit tightly which is what kickers need to get a solid hit on the ball every time
As a former college kicker, it really just depends what you like. I probably would use my current CTRIIIs if I had the choice back then. I preferred shorter studs on my kicking foot, so used Kelme Trueno my last few years. At the time I felt like the k-leather was very thin and was on a thin sole with short studs out of the box. I did typically wear a copa or world cups while changing stud lengths to suit conditions on my plant foot.
Well you have to hand it to Prater since he is the one who has kicked the longest field goal with his boots (CTR360) out of all NFL kickers listed here and anywhere else.
——————
Check my blog out (cleatreviewers.wordpress.com)