NFL fines Tyreek Hill for thing he has done every week for nearly whole career, per report

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill was wide open during the fourth quarter of Monday Night Football, looked up, caught a 73-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes and as he does nearly every week, flashed a celebratory peace sign.

If you’re a Chiefs fan, you know it well.

Except this time, the NFL’s “all-star” officiating crew on hand threw a flag for taunting, a 15-yard penalty enforced on the kickoff.

“I got to see what that was,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said after the game. “He always does his little thing. We just need consistency with it, so if it’s one thing, one week—he’s been doing it for two, three years here—same thing, I think. I’ll have to look at it. You guys (the media) had a better look at it than I did, but they called it, so it’s one of those things. ”

Pro Football Talk reported Friday that Hill was fined $10,026 for the incident, one week after Hill received a warning letter for the climbing into the stands and using one of the cameras to film his teammates as a touchdown celebration.

Unlike the camera move, the peace symbol has been a common celebration for Hill over the course of his three-year NFL career, and he has never been fined for it before Friday. The point of the celebration is Hill is so much faster than the rest of the league, he has time to flash the two fingers to say goodbye. The difference on this particular play could have been it was right in a Rams defender’s face—I hope that is the case.

The NFL suddenly fining one of its young stars for what has become his trademark, and a very marketable one at that, is an obvious mistake, in my opinion. The flag was one thing, but I was surprised to see the league double down in the form of a fine.

Hill will appeal the fine, according to the same Pro Football Talk report. He is in a tie for first in the league for receiving touchdowns with 11 and is second in the league in receiving yards with 1,106.