Handful of Cardinals to honor various causes for ‘My Cause, My Cleats’

Sunday afternoon when the Cardinals host the Washington Redskins, a handful of Arizona players will be taking part in an NFL initiative that allows them to use their cleats to honor various causes.

It is called “My Cause, My Cleats,” and in partnership with The Player’s Tribune it allows players to have footwear adorned with logos or messages to help promote positive initiatives.

“I think it’s great,” receiver Larry Fitzgerald, whose cleats will promote the First Down Fund, said.

These are @LarryFitzgerald's cleats for #MyCauseMyCleats.

Fitz's cause is the First Down Fund. pic.twitter.com/Q05mtrLspC

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 30, 2016

The First Down Fund is Fitzgerald’s charity, and it helps out various different organizations across the country.

“The media has a tendency to always focus on the negativity and things that players don’t do right, but NFL, it’s always, I applaud them all the time when they do the Breast Cancer Pink Month or the Military Appreciation Month,” Fitzgerald added. “Now we’re doing Cleat Week to give opportunity for guys who are doing good things off the field and to be able to shed light on that I think is always a positive.

“The National Football League allowed the players to display some of the more positive things, I think our ratings will go up.”

While no one can be sure of what kind of impact this may have on viewership, it’s not unfair to assume it will, if nothing else, be received warmly. The NFL is generally very stringent when it comes to uniforms, and this break from the norm — especially for positive messages — is tough to be upset with.

“That was big-time, kudos to the NFL for letting different guys wear different cleats to kind of take advantage of whatever they believe in,” Tyrann Mathieu said.

Mathieu’s cleats will be honoring Rise to Win, whose message is to improve race relations and drive social progress through sports.

.@Mathieu_Era's #MyCauseMyCleats this week.

The Honey Badger's cause is @RISEtoWIN. pic.twitter.com/71AD4MeLaa

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 29, 2016

“But for me, personally, it’s been a rocky year; there’s been a lot of racial divide within our country, so for me, it was important for me to wear something that symbolizes us coming together, all of us treating each other as equal, and that’s really my message,” Mathieu added. “So I think it’s a good one.”

A third Cardinal, quarterback Carson Palmer, chose to promote Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Carson Palmer will wear these cleats this week for #MyCauseMyCleats.

His cause is @PhxChildrens. pic.twitter.com/HVtS8DhIyT

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 30, 2016

“It’s great the league does it,” Palmer told Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. “Whether it be the military, Breast Cancer Awareness or this, they are so strict it makes things like this stick out even more. Which is the reason — they want to bring awareness to certain charities. It makes it that much more noticeable.”

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