Selecting Your Nike Football Cleat

By Andy Zain

While it once was not too difficult to choose a football cleat, times have changed. Gone are the days of two colors, a couple of styles, and only leather to choose from.

However, times have changed. There are many Nike football cleats from which to choose. The selection available is varied, which can be daunting. However, you get to choose the exact shoe for you.

What style is best for you?

If you are a lineman, then high-tops might be your choice. These give more support to the ankle, especially when moving laterally. These will support a lineman's ankles much better than a lower cut.

If you're a WR, DB, QB, or RB, you count more on speed, quickness, and agility. Low-tops are the way to go here. These weigh less and give more freedom to maneuver or put your agility to use.

As a skill player, the mid-cut also might be for you. These offer more support than the traditional low-cut shoe, but allows for that needed maneuverability.

What type of cleat do you want?

The molded cleat is just that. The cleats are molded to the shoe's outsole on the bottom of the shoe and cannot be removed. This offers great traction on most surfaces.

Detachable cleats are usually more expensive. However, they are more flexible. These shoes use studs that can be taken off and replaced whenever playing or weather conditions warrant.

Which material do you prefer?

Traditionally, cleats were leather - and it's still the material preferred by many players. Leather breathes well and is very flexible, durable, and really comfortable.

Synthetics are usually less expensive than leather, but they usually don't have the durability and breathability, either.

Nike makes more than 20 different styles for men and boys. The prices for men range anywhere from $80-140 or more. For boys, prices start at $40.

Whatever your skill level or age, Nike's range of styles is wide - more than 25 different styles are to be found on Nike.com. You can choose from the Air Zoom Super Speed, Zoom Flyposite, and Vapor Jet to the Land Shark, Zoom Boss, and Zoom Super Bad.

And a very good component of any Nike shoe is that you can create what you like using Nike.com's NIKEiD application. While not available for every football cleat, it can still be used on a wide variety of shoes.

While it's not available on every football cleat, it's available on enough of their selection for you to take advantage of. You can customize the shoe just as you like. From color to material to the fit, you can create a shoe perfect for you, but remaining within your team's concept, too.

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