The NFL fined Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown for his touchdown celebration that saw him jump into the Salvation Army cauldron at AT&T Stadium in Dallas on Monday night.
Brown will forfeit $5,481 for “Unsportsmanlike Conduct (Illegal Celebrations and Profanity)” after his 19-yard touchdown reception was initially ruled out of play and then broken on a check during the Bengals’ 27-20 win.
“I’ve seen everybody do it since I was a kid, so I was like, ‘Screw it, I’m going to do it,'” Brown said this week, via ESPN’s Ben Baby .
Brown didn’t know he might be fined by the NFL until reporters told him this week.
“Really?” Brown replied. “I hope not… Like a big fine?”
Asked if the fine would be worth it, Brown joked: “No! Absolutely not. I don’t make enough money for that s***.”
Using a Salvation Army kettle as part of a touchdown celebration is something that hasn’t always resulted in punishment from the NFL.
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott jumped the cauldron in 2016 but was not fined. When he threw money and quarterback Dak Prescott into one two years later, he got $13,369. During the 2023 Thanksgiving game, several cowboys pulled turkey legs out of the kettle, but they didn’t lose any money this week.
In 2022, Elliott and Prescott were fined $13,261 for a “Zeke-in-the-box” celebration that involved one of the kettles.