DeSean Jackson says that he was not allowed to memorialize John Madden with his cleats.

The Raiders wide receiver wore cleats paying tribute to the iconic late former NFL coach, broadcaster and pitchman in their game against the Colts on Sunday, but said that the league forced him to remove the shoes.

“@NFL hated on me and said if I didn’t take cleats off they was gonna remove me from the game!!” Jackson wrote in his Instagram stories. “I had these made for the legendary John Madden.”

Madden, who died unexpectedly last week at the age of 85, was the coach of the Raiders from 1969-1978, winning the Super Bowl in the 1976 season.

Jackson, 35, caught one ball for five yards in the Raiders’ 23-20 victory over the Colts on Sunday.

The NFL has long had rules prohibiting expressive cleats. They make exceptions to these rules for “My Cause My Cleats,” when players wear cleats to promote charitable organizations they support. The league also changed the rules in 2017 to allow for more colorful cleats in warmups, but that wouldn’t have enabled Jackson to wear these in the game.

A critic would say that NBA players can wear whatever sneakers they want and the world hasn’t fallen off its axes, so why can’t NFL players? To that, someone supportive of NFL rules could point out that the NFL is exponentially more successful in America than the NBA, and that one of the reasons for that is the emphasis on groups more than individuals.

“This is standard procedure. Players can wear specially designed cleats during pregame but wear their regular cleats during the game,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement.

“There were tributes to the great John Madden throughout all broadcasts and a moment of silence before every game in stadium. All Raiders players also wear special decals on their helmets as another way to salute Coach.”