NFL Rules and Regulations for Uniforms Explained

The NFL is often referred to as the "No Fun League" for how strictly the league's uniform policy is enforced. Today, that rule was scrutinized more than ever before, as the NFL let the Cleveland Browns know if Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry didn't change their customized cleats before the second half, they would be ruled ineligible to play the rest of the game.

With how often players have been fined for wearing colored gear outside of the parameters of what is allowed by the league, this is a good opportunity to look at what exactly the NFL says pertaining to what players are allowed to wear.

The official NFL rulebook states that "a player may wear shoes that are black, white or any constitutional team color, or any combination of black, white and a constitutional team color." Evidently, OBJ and Landry's cleats didn't fall under those guidelines.

To play devil's advocate, the rule has a lot of purpose behind it. Color coordination is more important to the eye than people consider it to be while watching a game, which is why the NFL enforces its color rule so much.

If a player's customized cleats aren't either color-coordinated with their team's scheme or isn't purely black or white, then they're in violation of the NFL rulebook.

With that explained, you'd wonder just how the NFL approved the Browns' request to wear their primary brown uniforms against the Denver Broncos today.

Instead of worrying so much about players' cleats, the NFL might want to pay more attention to how ugly the Browns vs. Broncos matchup literally looked based on their uniforms.