Dallas Cowboys Assistant Athletic Trainer Turns Cleat Artist for NFL Stars

Each year, NFL players use the My Cause My Cleats campaign to spotlight personal causes through bold, custom footwear. For the Dallas Cowboys, some of the most eye-catching designs this season aren’t coming from outside vendors—they’re coming from inside the training room.

Meet Nate Benjamin, the Cowboys’ graduate assistant Athletic Trainer whose unlikely side gig has turned him into the go-to custom cleat artist for stars like Dak Prescott, Donovan Wilson, and others.

Prescott discovered Benjamin’s talent almost by accident. While passing by a pair of gem-covered cleats Benjamin made for teammate Sam Williams, he stopped and asked:

“Where’d you get those?” When told Nate had made them, Prescott laughed and said, “Who? Nate?”

A couple of weeks later, after seeing more of Benjamin’s work, the quarterback admitted:

"I was kind of amazed… You want to do some of mine? Let’s do it.”

Benjamin’s journey into Athletic Training began long before the paint. After tearing a ligament in his thumb as a walk-on wide receiver at Hartwick College, he spent time in the training room with head Athletic Trainer Heidi Hofbauer-Buzzy.

“After that, I was like, ‘This is 100% what I want to do,’” he said.

He went on to earn degrees from Hartwick, Delaware, and Kentucky before landing the Cowboys job through a chain of phone calls made by his mentor, Jim Madaleno.

“I had an email the same day,” Benjamin said.

His cleat-making began with a single white Nike pair and a deep dive into YouTube. His first attempts were, in his words, “awful,” but Wilson gave him a shot anyway—and wore the results during the season opener.

That early trust has now grown into something bigger. Five Cowboys players and three staff members asked Benjamin to design their My Cause My Cleats for 2025.

“This is a big deal… They have a cause they want to represent and they’re trusting me to do it,” he said.

For Prescott, Benjamin’s dedication says it all:

“He’s smart, he’s young, he’s growing… and still being really great at his job as an Athletic Trainer.”

What started as a hobby has become a meaningful way for Benjamin to support the players he serves—on and off the field. Read more here!