Why do some football players wrap the heels of their cleats?

[Superhuman7]

I used to see some guys do this in practice; this past Sunday I noticed Domnique Rodgers-Cromartie of the Arizona Cardinals had the heels of his cleats wrapped as well.

My first thought was that it was a tool to train players to stay on the balls of their feet. Seeing it used in games makes me think otherwise, though (since a regular season game is clearly not the time to be doing this sort of training). My second thought was that it prevents the heels of defensive players from snagging on the turf.

Does anybody know why this is done? What are they using to wrap their heels?

Thanks.

[mpls28allday]

you mean why do players tape up their ankles?

[vuhnan81]

They are not taping the heels of their cleats; the tape is in between the spikes on the toe and the spikes on the heel of the cleat. Football players at the college and professional level tape their ankles to prevent injury. Having had my ankles taped for football many times before, I can tell you that it is incredibly difficult to roll an ankle with the amount of tape that trainers apply. If you look for it, you will find that almost all players--offensive and defensive--have their ankles taped. It takes some getting used to, but it's definitely worth having done.

[kingkong06]

...for support?

[TripleTrouble]

yeah, its for support.

[sIghtLines]

Most guys will do it because of bad ankles, or support. But you will occasionally get guys who do it just for the "look" of it.

[roid_monkey]

i believe it is called getting spatted when its on the outside and it is the same as taping on the inside (on skin) but without dealijng with all the spray and crap and getting all that gross crap on your skin

[Superhuman7]

There are a few pics of the aforementioned player, just to confirm that we're all talking about the same thing. I can actually see the cleats poking through the tape in the second picture, confirming what Vuhnan said about not taping over the cleats, although I've seen that done, too (probably for "the look") as was mentioned. What kind of tape are they using to do this?

Thanks for the answers.

[vuhnan81]

They use a pre-wrap to prevent irritation to the hair and skin, followed by basic medical tape. The tape on the outside of the cleat is all medical tape.

[juslift]

yea its called spatting, its mostly done for the look. you can get the same support with inside tape and an ankle brace.

[LyingSac]

It's incase there testicle gets knocked loose.It'll fall in there shoe....hoop

[JWP58]

"spat wrap"= waste of tape, end of thread. It is for looks only.

[KEatz]

"spat wrap"= waste of tape, end of thread. It is for looks only.

^^

it was also said spatting is not good for your ankles, although if you get your ankle tapped, then spatted it would be okay

but yes.. its looks only.

[ccDub]

NFL players tape up their shoes because the NFL only allows players to wear cleats from it's official suppliers Nike or Under Armour. Players who choose not to wear cleats by these brands (usually due to sponsorship contracts) must tape up their cleats to disguise the logos of the non sanctioned brand usually Reebok or Adidas.

[SDOptimist]

NFL players tape up their shoes because the NFL only allows players to wear cleats from it's official suppliers Nike or Under Armour. Players who choose not to wear cleats by these brands (usually due to sponsorship contracts) must tape up their cleats to disguise the logos of the non sanctioned brand usually Reebok or Adidas.

You bump a 4 year thread to spew out FALSE information hahahah.

NFL players do not tape up their ankles because the nfl's official supplier for shoes is nike and underarmour. How old are you? who told you this? LOL

Players have shoe contracts. It has nothing to do with the team. Not every player has shoe contracts, but majority of them do. It's not contracts as in you will see them in a commercial or anything. It is just a contract that they will wear the shoes of that company. These companies are nike, addidas, reebok and underarmour. NFL does not have an official shoe company. Or at least they don't restrict players to wearing certain brands. They do restrict players on the color of the shoe. There are little tedious rules about that, and hefty fines.

Players that don't have a shoe contract are issued shoes by the team. Those are the shoes that the team orders on their budget. And again, they get to chose whichever brand the team has on their shelves. Ya in that case, it is mostly nike. Where as the players who have shoe contracts, the team doesn't pay for those shoes, the company sending them does.

Those players who are under shoe contracts have to follow not only the nfl's rules on shoes, but also the comany's (nike, addidas, reebok, etc) rules on shoes. They are not allow to cover up the logo of that company. Players who are not under contract with a shoe company and use the shoes that are issued by the team can cover up the logos with tape. THEREFORE, the players who you see spatting (taping outside of shoe) are players that are not under contract. It is not because they have to cover up the logo, it is because they want to SPAT. A player who is under a shoe contract is not allowed to spat since this would cover their logo up and breach their contract. So a player who likes to spat, refuses to have a shoe contract for that reason and just takes the shoes that the team issues.

oh and players get their ankles taped underneath their socks and shoes. Spatting isn't as effective as ankle taping. But most people who do spat, have their ankles taped. So, it is just an added support. But not all that effective.