San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy wore cleats promoting the Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse during Monday night’s game against the Carolina Panthers.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the charity organization Samaritan’s Purse, announced in a Facebook post Monday that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had “chosen to highlight the work of Samaritan’s Purse in the 2025 #MyCauseMyCleats initiative.”
Sharing an image of football cleats featuring the URL for the Samaritan’s Purse website and the company’s name, Graham urged his followers to “watch for these cleats tonight.”
As explained on the National Football League’s official website, “My Cause My Cleats is a player-led initiative where players, coaches and staff wear custom-designed cleats to spotlight the causes and nonprofits they care about most.” In addition to listing Samaritan’s Purse as Purdy’s nonprofit of choice under the My Cause My Cleats initiative, the NFL gives fans the option to donate to the charity.
Graham began his Facebook post by expressing hope that “Brock Purdy does well in the game tonight.” Monday’s game saw the 49ers defeat the Panthers 20-9.
Purdy’s decision to embrace Samaritan’s Purse as part of the My Cause My Cleats initiative marks the latest example of the athlete sharing his Christian faith with the public. The athlete identifies himself as a “Follower of Jesus” to his 1.3 million followers on Instagram.
Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, Purdy toldSports Spectrum that he starts every day by reading Psalm 23. He summarized the Bible passage during his interview with the news outlet, saying, “The Lord is my shepherd. I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.”
When asked by Sports Spectrum if he prays before games, Purdy affirmed that he does.
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “It’s not ‘God, can we win here? Can we do something great here?’ It’s more just to have that peace, that steadfastness in all the chaos. That’s really what it is. It’s sinking back into, ‘Holy Spirit, take over and lead me here in this moment and allow me to think clearly, allow me to obviously go through my reads.’ Like I said, just have an even-keeled mind that I get from the Holy Spirit.”
Purdy previously shared that because he’s “rooted” in his Christian faith, he’s able “to just play and not be afraid to fail.” He also expressed confidence that “God’s going to take care of wherever I’m at in my life, whether it’s football or not.”
“I’m actually able to use that when I’m making decisions and playing football,” he added. Purdy has also stressed that his “identity isn’t in football,” defining his approach to life as “God, if you want me to do great with this, great; if not, all right, let’s go do something else, wherever you need me.”
In addition to Psalm 23, Purdy has also cited Mark 8:34 as one of his favorite Bible verses. The scripture passage declares, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Purdy said he also seeks to live out that Bible verse in his NFL career.
“I didn’t want to grip onto this life of, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m in the NFL. I have a starting quarterback role. I’m, you know, I can’t lose it,’” he explained. “I was reminded what Jesus has told us thousands of years ago in terms of don’t try to hold onto your life, you’re going to lose it, you know, and the world wants you to go this way or that way.
“The minute you have fame and if you’re trying to chase status and money and all this kind of stuff, you’ll lose your life rather than denying yourself, picking up your cross, keeping my eyes on Jesus,” he added.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
