Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins were fined a combined $89,556 by the NFL for performing a celebratory move known as the “people’s elbow” after picking up first downs during Thursday’s game.
Higgins was hit with four separate fines and Chase with two, according to the New York Post. The gesture involves a player placing his left hand on his right elbow before slowly extending his right arm forward.
Chase said after the game he plans to challenge the penalty.
“We got fined for the people’s elbow stuff. 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.”
Chase also criticized the league’s fine system more broadly, saying players are reluctant to speak out because doing so can itself trigger penalties.
“I don’t even think we can tweet about it because we get fined for tweeting about it. 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 called on the league’s biggest names to push the NFL Players Association to fight the fines, drawing a comparison to other recent penalties around celebration gestures.
“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.”
Chase has now accumulated $613,162 in fines since 2022, according to the report.
He defended the celebration as harmless fun rather than anything obscene.
“This is literally like a wrestling move. 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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