Ja’Marr Chase hit The Rock’s People’s Elbow after a touchdown and the NFL fined him for it, and somebody at league headquarters owes the rest of us an explanation of what they think “fun” is supposed to look like.
Chase confirmed the fine Thursday during media availability, a few days after the Bengals beat Houston. Nobody’s put a public number on the fine yet, and I’m not going to guess one, because guessing gets people in trouble and Chase already has enough of that going around. What we do know: Chase and Tee Higgins have both broken out the move this season, dropping to the turf and delivering the elbow like a couple of guys who grew up on Thursday night wrestling instead of just running routes for a living.
Chase explained the whole thing to reporters with the patience of a guy who’s had this argument before, via SI: “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out because that’s not what it is. This is literally like a wrestling move.”
It’s a wrestling move. That’s the whole case, and it’s not a hard one to make.
This isn’t out of character for a guy whose relationship with the rulebook runs a little hot — this is the same receiver who once sent a helmet twenty yards across a practice field just to make a point. He gets ahead of himself sometimes. But a helmet throw and a scripted touchdown celebration aren’t the same violation, and the league’s own marketing team is thrilled to cut a highlight package out of the exact thing it’s billing him for.
“It was something different for us, something we try to be unique with,” Chase said. “Just stopping the fun. So it is what it is.”
Chase didn’t stop at being annoyed about the money. He pulled the NFLPA into it directly: “I think this is where the superstars have to get in with the NFLPA and fight for our money.” Then he went further, noting players can’t even vent about it publicly. “We could complain. I don’t even think we can tweet about it because we get fined for tweeting about it.”
That’s the actual point buried in there. The league packages Chase’s celebrations into GIFs and hype reels the same week it sends him a bill for producing them, and he’s the one doing the math out loud — he’s the product, and he’s still getting invoiced for the show. Set that next to the NFLPA’s own report card on the league and the pattern isn’t exactly subtle. Chase saying it out loud, attached to his own name and his own fine, is the part that’s new.
Reaction online moved fast, as it does.
https://twitter.com/UnderdogNFL/status/2103209110573367434
Chad Johnson got in on it too, pressing Chase on the Chasing No. 1 podcast about whether the move was secretly a Spider-Man reference. Chase shut that down immediately: “No, that’s not Spider-Man. It’s the People’s Elbow, bruh. The Rock from wrestling, he did it differently, though, we just added the point.”
Fine him again if they want. The highlight reel’s still going in the hype package Monday morning, and Chase is still doing the move Sunday.
