Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins were both fined for performing the “people’s elbow” move after achieving first downs on Thursday.
The pair racked up a pricey punishment totaling $89,556 between them, with Higgins receiving four fines and Chase two during the game, according to the New York Post.
The celebratory move involved the players placing their left hand on their right elbow and then slowly extending their right arm forward, the videos show.
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“We got fined for the people’s elbow stuff,” Chase said after the game. “I would love to appeal it. It’s something we made up, and then everybody else saying what it is. Everybody gonna have their own opinion of what it looked like.”
He also said he hopes that the NFL Players Association will finally speak up and try to put an end to all the fines that officials keep doling out. He even said he’d get fined for posting about it on social media.
“I don’t even think we can tweet about it because we get fined for tweeting about it,” Chase explained. “So, like it’s really like players gotta keep their mouth shut and deal with it. We gotta have a superstar in the NFLPA to do something about it, help us along the way.”
He went on to urge NFL “superstars” to pressure the players’ union to oppose these constant fines.
“I think this is where the superstars have to get in with the NFLPA and fight for our money because if he’s getting fined for doing a drinking gesture, a juice gesture and I’m getting fined for an elbow and doing the first down thing, I don’t know,” he said.
Chase has doled out $613,162 in fine cash since 2022.
He also insisted the gesture was just supposed to be a bit of fun, not obscene.
“This is literally like a wrestling move,” he insisted. “It was something different for us, something new, something we’re trying to be unique. They’re just stopping the fun.”
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