Tennessee Titans wide receiver Tajae Sharpe is using #MyCauseMyCleats to pay tribute to those affected by the East Tennessee wildfires.
He’ll be wearing custom cleats to bring awareness to the needs people have stemming from that tragedy.
“The idea I had is to bring awareness to help support any victims, and any families that were affected by the wildfires,’’ Sharpe said, per Jim Wyatt of the team website. “I kind of feel like being a professional athlete we get so caught up on doing our job and performing well on the field that we kind of lose track on what is really important and that is the real world. There’s a lot of terrible things going on where people are hurting.
“With the platform we are on as professional athletes, there’s a lot of people who look up to us in a positive way. If we can bring attention to a negative situation and bring awareness to that and kind of help out any way we can, that’s a good thing.”
Two juveniles were charged with aggravated arson for sparking the wildfire that devastated East Tennessee last week. Before being quelled by firefighters, the fires killed 14 people, injured at least 150 others and damaged more than 2,400 properties. The blaze roared through Great Smoky Mountains National Park before spreading into Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.
There were many excellent causes players brought attention to last weekend with the NFL’s #MyCauseMyCleats run. This is one of them, and it’s one the greater Tennessee community can get behind in force.
The Titans were on a bye last week when the rest of the NFL sported custom cleats. They were actually informed originally that they would not be allowed to participate because of that, but the NFL reversed its course shortly after the news broke that players would defy the ruling.