Heat Shield - Not sure

Is it safe to take off the heat shield that is on the exhaust pipe , just b4 the cat . I believe it is a down pipe heat shield.

The last person who had the car tie wrapped the shield to hold it and it makes a nasty rattling noise .

Is it ok to just remove it ?

yup its all cool,

my one for the SR was smoking cause it was insulated so i got rid of it.