Shumake Take Rants 6 [The Guardian Cap Problem]

today I'm talking about my problem with Guardian caps and why they might not actually be in the interest of player safety on this edition of shoem make take rants let's get [Music] it all right all right welcome in everybody thank you for stopping by hope you're having a awesome some fantastic freaking day my name is Garrett Shoemake and you listening to Shoemake take rant this is shoem make take rant number six and today we're talking about my problem with Guardian caps because there is an underlying issue that I have with them and it's because the NFL is not implementing them for this interest of player safety they are not but before we get into it I got to talk about a little bit of housekeeping the only time I'm going to do housekeeping for sh make take rants for for these I'm not going to do them I'm not going to talk much about them I'm usually just going to jump straight into the conversation about whatever we're talking about but it's the only time I'm doing it but if you're here if you're new here and you don't know what shate take rant is about I talk about a common situation debate or controversial idea or whatever in the NFL landscape and I throw my hat in the ring and I just talk about it kind of see both sides of it we're going to and pretty much give more depth to the current situation that most people talk about on social media and they were we're talking about Guardian caps this one's not going to be you know a common debate this one's not a this one's controversial but it's something that not very many people are talking about which which makes this episode a little bit special and a little bit different because this is something I really thought about for a while now and I decided you know before the season starts what's something I could rant about and this is one I could rant about because a couple years ago Guardian caps were implemented and used per all times for training camp and ota's practice so Guardian caps are 100% man use now in in Camp in practice but now this year it is now players are now allowed to wear Guardian caps in game and throughout the course of the preseason we've seen multiple players including star running back Jonathan Taylor were Guardian caps in game they created these little like sleeves they put over it so they look like a helmet and the thing with it is you can't really honestly you can't really tell you can't really tell what the guardian cap looks like and you can't you can't really see it unless you're looking hard at the screen like if you're just sitting back on your couch chilling and you're watching you can't really tell I mean unless like they zoom in then you notice it but just watching the game you don't you can't really tell so that's fine but we got to talk about Guardian caps in general and at first we got to talk about what Guardian caps are so Guardian caps if you don't know which most of you probably do but this is for people that don't gardan caps are these little padded they're these little padded caps that go over the top of a football helmet and they just add more cushion they add more protection against head injuries CTE concussions neck injuries maybe not neck injuries but they help prevent injuries to the head and they were implemented a couple years ago because the NFL if you don't know this has a department where you know they do research for player safety and whatnot and there's a couple in I think there's a couple like famous scientists there's a couple like really well-known investors or scientists or something like that backing it and they pretty much have the NFL kind of like in a stronghold where when the garden caps were invent or not invented but when they were implemented a couple years ago in practices they pretty much told the NFL this has to be this they have to do it or else like they're going to suffer some consequences so the NFL with their hands kind of tied had to implement the guardian caps and the guardian caps are a great addition don't get it twisted about this rant about what I'm about to or you think I'm about to talk what you think I'm about to talk about Jesus freaking Christ The Guardian caps are a great thing they're a great thing because not like I said they prevent head injuries they help keep players safe and say what you want yeah sure they don't look good on the field when you they look goofy they look goofy but you know what if they if the players look a little bit more goofier but they're safer so be it cuz we love the players we love what they do to our they love they they you know what I'm talking about we love the players they love what they do for the game we love watching them and we'll get more into the player side here in a minute but here's the thing with the NFL and these Guardian caps and why I think they're not an interest for player safety here's the thing when we talk about the NFL when we talk about injuries or when anybody talks about injuries in the NFL what's the first thing what's the very first thing that people talk about concussions CTE it's the first thing they talk about so the NFL implemented the guardian caps to help you know minimize these discussions because there's a bunch of scientists that talk about how bad it is to play football and how bad it is for your head post when you're done playing because of CTE and then you know all the ethical people that are like oh playing the NFL oh it's so bad for you well here's the thing I'm not going to say the NFL cares about CTE too much I have this in my script but I don't think they care about CTE too much cuz you can never care enough about head injuries because that's that's serious that's real stuff because not only is that like a physical injury that also it's mental and when you have a mental when you have mental lapses and when you have an injury to your part of your body that affects your cognitive functions that's a big deal that's a huge deal I'm not going to like sit here and say that that's not but here's the thing with the guardian caps being implemented you know are they really in the interest for player safety and I don't think they aren't because here's the thing when you talk about or look at it from a players perspective think about the players you know opinion on it you know players have openly talked about how they're mostly not going to wear Guardian caps you can look at it look at conferences over the past two years multiple players talk about how they're not going to wear Guardian caps the reason why is because the players know what they signed up for they accept that there's good their body's going to get hurt it's going to get worn down but you know what they're doing it because they love football and they want to make generational money for themselves and for their families that's why they play this game and so the players have already accepted what they're going to go through after they're done playing they've dealt with it and some players sure they're wearing the guardian cap and it's going to help them out a lot awesome but here's the thing that's not what players are talking about when when players openly complain about their safety and their health the first thing is other equipment you know equipment is not the big one they talk about but I remember reading at one point there was a player that had wor worn custom cleats in a game and they were specifically designed to help you know cushion the feed a little bit more and you know help the ankles when it comes to players making hard cuts and whatnot especially running at full speed and the NFL find them for it because they weren't the Cates that will be allowed to that they weren't allowed to wear whatever it is cuz I know that cuz the NFL doesn't allow players to wear whatever cleats they want which is dumb in my opinion but that's a different that's a different rant for another day however you know he got fined for wearing equipment that helped his feet and it makes me believe you know okay they're implementing the guardian caps to additional equipment for player safety but they're finding a player for wiar cleats that contribute to player health and safety so what's the what's the issue here why is it you know why is the guarding cap okay but wearing cleats that can help cushion your feet not help them look deformed and crap after their career and look all messed up I mean look up P look up pictures of players in their feet and their hands after they got done playing in the NFL and you can see like everything looks a little disjointed it looks awkward it looks weird and you know this this CLE was supposed to help a player not feel have foot pain you know or help it's supposed to help them it's supposed to help their health that's that's the one what I'm trying to get out of here but the NFL find the player for that but why not why if we're talking about if the NFL is all about player health and safety as much as they openly talk about being so why would they find a player for wearing equipment that you know that helps their feet why wouldn't they go into the go into the department I don't know what they would do but why can't they just Implement a thing where you can wear whatever cleat you want or how about this with the company that made the cleat how about you endorse them and allow their cleat to be worn in the game why and then the big one that players talk about a lot you hear this one a ton more than anything else and it's artificial turf artificial turf is what players really care about because here's the thing if you don't understand the difference between grass and artificial turf I mean obviously it feels different and whatnot but at an NFL level when you're running at full speed when you wearing cleats your cleats dig and tear into the ground that's why when you see you know players running and whatnot natural grass the grass gets tore up it gets destroyed because it's a whole bunch of little spikes running in the ground at a bunch of at at full speed but the thing is with grass in in natural grass is that it helps absorb a lot of that pressure that's going into players running at full speed making Cuts you know it's really good at absorbing all that body weight moving in such an unrealistic and unnatural motion but artificial turf because it's more set in place and it's more sturdy doesn't do the same thing so when a player cuts the turf doesn't adapt and doesn't absorb body weight like a natural grass does so kind of like um it's like if you for example it's like if you're going to run at a brick wall which is artificial turf and then you're going to run at a foam wall I know that's a very drastic example but think about it if you go if you run into a foam wall the you're going to go into the foam and it's going to absorb your impact is it still going to hurt probably a little bit but going if you crash into if you run into a concrete wall or a brick wall it's going to hurt a lot more because it doesn't absorb the impact of the motion that you're that you're in and when that happens it and when it doesn't absorb as well when you make a cut your body is more likely to give out it's more likely to go under a it's already under a bunch of tension right it's under a your your ankles your legs are a bunch of are under a bunch of tension so without that grass to absorb it and you know redistribute the force that's in the body and going into the ground the turf instead of going like you know like this and kind of just kind of just taking it in it just it doesn't move move and so it creates more tension right there on the ankles and the joints and so it creates more opportunities for torn ACL or torn Achilles and that's why players are so upset about it because natural grass has been proven to be better for player health and safety and the thing is players they care about their careers what happens after their career you know sure they care about it to a certain extent but they but players care about what can what can help them and what keep them healthy and safe and safe now and that's natural grass and the players in the NFL PA have been open about this for years at this point and why hasn't the NFL implemented all grass fields they did it when the um or they're going to do it when the World Cup comes here to America because I know MetLife Stadium they have an alter field and they're going to change the field to Grass because the people like I don't know like the organizers of the FIFA World Cup I don't know if it's FIFA is an organization I'm sure it is but the point is you know they refused to play on artificial tour why is that because it's been scientifically proven that artificial turf is not good for sports it contributes to way more injuries and the fact the NFL is going to do this for the for FIFA for the world cup instead of doing it for its players that's asinine that's completely asinine you want to talk about how oh the NFL implemented guardan caps for player safety I don't think so the reason why they didn't in my opinion is because there is because you know people obviously like I said earlier in the show told him to because oh yeah if you don't Implement these Guardian caps we're going to you know you're going to suffer repercussions but the thing is you know they're acting in the interests of other people instead of acting in the interest for the players and that's so infuriating because I know you have to and you know you have to do stuff for other people that's not your players like you know investors or scientists like whoever like whoever you're trying to like whoever's like working for you working with you under you what what what have you but it it angers me that the players or the NFL talks about player safety and how they're all about oh where we want the players to be safe we want them to be healthy and they're finding players for wearing cleats that help their feet and then they haven't fixed the artificial turf issue and the big issue is maybe not with the NFL well ultimately it is the NFL but the big thing is the owners the owners are cheap bro but Al but also another rant for another day what's new about billionaires billionaires have the most money in the world yet they're the most stingiest about their money and the thing is you know I can get a certain extent of it you know all right I can understand it from a smaller perspective because here's the thing with natural grass field you know not only is it not as versatile it's harder to maintain you have if you're going to host a concert it makes it that much more work to get it out so and then put it back in like it's a lot of work and you know with artificial turf not only is it more you know it's more durable it lasts forever it doesn't require that much maintenance and then if you want to host a concra or something you can whoop you can pull it right out of the stadium like think about like the stadium in Vegas or legent Stadium or think about the Cardinal Stadium because they have retractable fields and with artificial turf you can do that it's harder to do that with natural grass and the bottom line though is the n the owners they're they're all billionaires I saw a graphic today that like the cheap the billionaire with the least amount of money still has like 1 5 billion or some crap like that and that's a lot of money and it's like you can afford to have natural grass and pay the employees a proper wage for them to do their job and keep it maintained and when you got to host a concert get it all out and put it back in like come on if we're all about player health and safety how about we start investing in the players because here's the thing players are they're Investments they are AB they are absolute absolutely Investments for owners cuz here the thing the owners think about like a star player think about you know the highest paid quarterbacks receivers Corners think about the highest paid skill position players in the National Football League you know from a players perspective or from a fans perspective excuse me you know we love the players we love the superstars we love watching the game and we love seeing them play and bottom line is you know the top players Patrick Mahomes Jordan love a young ascending quarterback you know s Gardner TJ watt miles Garrett Micah Parson CD lamb AJ Brown like your list goes on and on and on and bottom line is these players are ticket sellers they sell tickets they fill seats in their Investments for owners because they're paying a ton of money for these players not only to be on their team but to play at a high level win them games and be a face of the franchise and for the player to be a face of their Community that's why they play pay players so much money because they have faith that they can do all of those things and even D some so why is it so hard for NFL owners in the NFL as an organization to get on board with natural grass field and increasing the available equipment to players that so it can help their bodies you know not only be in better condition during the season but help them be in better condition after they're done with their playing careers but the NFL wants to implement Guardian caps and talk about how oh they're all about player safety they're not they're appeasing other people outside of the NFL that's not its players and that's a problem that's the guardian cap problem it's that there appeasing others and they're not really appeasing the players is it for player are the guardian Capt is are they a good implementation and are they necessary sure they've been proven to help of player safety and produce head injuries like we talked about but the issue here with the NFL and the guardian C problem is the motives because they're not doing it for player safety it's it's clear to me at least and probably in my yeah in my opinion because I don't because we can't say it's it's a fact true fact or not but the evidence see it seems to me that they're about appeasing the others about appeasing the people outside of the league like I said not the people and the players in the league the ones that are generating all the revenue for their brand and the ones that are the face of their brand and that's what INF that's what infuriates me infuriates me so much about this rant is because it doesn't solve anything sure you're implementing Guardian caps that help but it's not solving the real problem at hand and is that you're really not investing into player safety you're only doing something cuz someone else told you to do it and you're just offing playing it off as player safety when you're not really doing anything that and really listening to what the players have to say you're not listening to what the NFL PA has problems with and that is the artificial turf which is number which is number one and it's been like that for years but the NFL and the owners have not come together and they have not budged one bit and that's infuriating cuz I don't like because here's the thing with the NFL I'll say it right here right now I don't want I don't want to hear the NFL talk about player that they're there for player health and S safety again cuz until you allow more equipment outside of the Guardian caps that helps with player health and safety during their playing days and after their playing days and then implementing natural grass fields for the love of God don't talk to me about player health and safety don't talk about it cuz all it sounds like is a bunch of corporate BS and and as a hardworking American citizen and a bunch of others that will probably listen to this show whether it's now or later on down the line once more people actually watch it we all hate corporate BS we don't want to hear it just be honest with us just be honest that you're just not that you don't care or how about this let your actions complement your words they say actions speak louder than words but they also complement your words too and when you're and when your lack of action when your words go with a lack of action it's a ton of BS all I see is BS and that's what it is it's corporate BS and that is that is the ultimate thing with the guardian cap problem it's just a bunch of corporate BS it's a bunch of corporate BS and the NFL doesn't truly care about player health and safety as much as they say they do and that's the point of this rant but that's pretty much it honestly I hope hope I got everything across that's going to do it I think yeah that's going to do it but uh I hope this informs you well about the NFL and the guardian cap problem I hope this shed more light about you know player health and safety and what the actual Pro and what the real problems are that players actually have with their own health and safety and I'm not going to be no activist or nothing but you know and I'm not going to ask you to share the video you know I do at the end of every episode but it's not like you know I'm I'm just kind of telling you to do it cuz I'm I'm asking you to do it please please do but this one I'm really telling you to please like see this video and share it because ultimately here's the thing you know if if they're not going to do it for the players you know because if the players can openly Express you know what what they want change and they're not going to listen if fans start going at it as well and we get that and they start getting attacked from multiple angles they start getting attacked from the public and they start getting getting that getting it from their players they're going to be more inclined to make a change because ultimately you know we we pay the NFL we pay them tickets we pay them money to go watch NFL Sunday Ticket and watch the pay cable like we are the ones that pay the NFL to operate and the best way to hurt a company is to not give them money so I'm asking you to share this video and spread this out because here's the thing we love watching our players we love no matter what fan of what team you are you are a you love watching your star players and nothing hurts more nothing is more infuriating when you see your player go down with an injury and playing on turf fields increases that chance so if you want if you care about the NFL listening Roger Goodell listen to this right now you're not going to listen to it but you know what I'm sending a message to you right now if you care about player health and safety as much as you say you do then you need to make these changes you need to increase the available equipment to players and you need to implement natural grass fields please you have to what players have been talking about it's what they've been complaining about listen to your players and and do what's and do right by them do right by the players they're the ones that help grow your brand and make and have made it as big as it is but okay that will officially do it for me today hope I got every point across I hope I got the to got the entire en encompassing situation across and I hope this shed light on a bigger issue that I have with the NFL in general not just with the guardian caps but with player health and safety in general but hope you like the video please do what every YouTuber tells you to do you know the drill like subscribe share the video all that stuff comment down below let me know your thoughts and uh that's going to do it hope you guys enjoyed and see you on the next one weah aahah [Music]