Amon-Ra St. Brown clearly had no problem celebrating while Detroit was getting beaten. First down? Smoking gesture. Another catch? Do it again. Touchdown while the Lions were still trailing? Might as well pass the imaginary joint around. He did it four separate times, picked up nearly $60,000 in fines, finished with 142 yards and two touchdowns, and still left Buffalo with a 41-31 loss. Four celebrations, four fines, zero wins. That is a lot of celebrating for a team that never led.

“It’s not good, man,” St. Brown said, via the Detroit Free Press. “Fourteen-something times four. You do the math. But I’m appealing.”

Under the NFL’s sportsmanship rules, unsportsmanlike conduct carries a standard first-offense fine of $14,926, which is why St. Brown was hit with the same amount for each of the four gestures, bringing his total to $59,704.

The NFL reviews every play and can issue discipline even when an incident is not flagged during the game. A fined player receives a letter explaining the violation, video of the play, the amount, and instructions for appealing. If St. Brown appeals, his case will be randomly assigned to one of the NFL-NFLPA appeals officers, Derrick Brooks, Jordy Nelson, or James Thrash, who will review the league’s case and his defense before issuing a final and binding decision.

St. Brown first made the smoking gesture with 6:17 left in the second quarter after catching an 11-yard pass from Jared Goff for a first down, even as Detroit trailed 21-0. He went back to it early in the third quarter, this time after a 21-yard catch with 13:36 remaining while the Lions were still down 27-10.

Then came the most noticeable one at 9:31, when he caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Goff and mimicked smoking before appearing to pass the imaginary joint to Jahmyr Gibbs, who then passed it to Jameson Williams. That score cut Buffalo’s lead to 27-17 after the extra point. St. Brown still was not done. With 28 seconds left in the third quarter and Detroit trailing 34-17, he caught a 34-yard pass and repeated the same gesture again.

The fines are unlikely to put much of a dent in St. Brown’s earnings.

He signed a four-year extension with Detroit in 2024 worth more than $120 million, including $77 million in guarantees, keeping him under contract through the 2028 season. His deal was restructured again in 2026, with Detroit converting $26 million of salary into bonus money, and he is scheduled to receive about $28.11 million in cash this season.

The $59,704 does not reduce the overall value of St. Brown’s $120 million contract. Under the NFL-NFLPA fine system, the amount is withheld from a later player check if he does not appeal or if the punishment is upheld. If the fine is overturned, nothing is taken. Even if all four fines stand, they represent only about 0.21% of the roughly $28.11 million he is scheduled to receive in 2026.

And St. Brown was not alone in getting fined for a celebration.

San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk received the same $14,926 fine after pretending to chug a drink following a touchdown against Miami, although he argued that he was drinking imaginary “juice,” a reference to his nickname. Indianapolis Colts guard Matt Goncalves was fined $8,847 for a similar chugging gesture against Kansas City.

The crackdown extended beyond drinking gestures. Bengals receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins were also fined after the NFL deemed their “people’s elbow” celebration inappropriate, while Washington Commanders receiver Stefon Diggs was fined $14,926 for jumping onto the goalpost after a touchdown in Week 1.

Still, as much attention as St. Brown’s celebrations have drawn, his play has been doing even more talking.

Amon-Ra St. Brown is in the form of his life

Although the Lions lost their Week 2 game, St. Brown has started the season in impressive form, recording 19 receptions for 209 yards and four touchdowns through two games. He leads the league in receptions and is tied with Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the most receiving touchdowns. He also became just the second player in NFL history to record at least nine receptions and two touchdowns in each of the first two games of a season.

Head coach Dan Campbell has been an admirer of the two-time first-team All-Pro since watching his college film.

“I just remember you were a freaking pit bull, man,” Campbell said in mid-September on the St. Brown Podcast. “You were at the college level what you are here. You get after dudes. You were the most physical receiver coming out that year.”

The Lions eventually selected St. Brown 112th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, and he has since developed into one of the franchise’s most important players. He has earned four Pro Bowl selections and recorded more than 1,000 receiving yards in each of the last four seasons, with another such campaign already looking possible. New offensive coordinator Drew Petzing has also said he was “blown away” by St. Brown’s physicality and leadership.

Everything points toward another big season for St. Brown. The only thing he may want to keep under control is the celebrations, because at this rate, the NFL might keep taking a piece of his game checks along with them.