{"id":488766,"date":"2026-10-08T03:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488766\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T03:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:38:17","slug":"nfl-union-clarify-celebration-rules-ok-drinking-gestures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488766\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL, union clarify celebration rules, OK drinking gestures"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The NFL and NFLPA announced in a joint statement Wednesday<\/a> that recent player celebrations imitating drinking a beverage will no longer be violations or result in discipline.<\/p>\n

In Week 2, multiple players, including 49ers<\/a> fullback Kyle Juszczyk<\/a>,Colts<\/a> guard Matt Goncalves<\/a> and Cowboys<\/a> tight end Jake Ferguson<\/a>, were fined after performing celebrations in which they mimicked drinking a beverage of some kind.<\/p>\n

An appeals officer rescinded the fines for Juszczyk and Ferguson earlier Wednesday as the league and players’ association worked out a solution to solve any future issues on the matter.<\/p>\n

“The league-wide guidance provides players with greater clarity on how they can celebrate while remaining within the rules,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

As part of that clarification, the following celebrations remain prohibited and can result in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty, a fine or both:<\/p>\n

Gestures that depict violence, including the use of guns or other weapons or gang-related signs<\/p>\n

Gestures that depict smoking or drug use<\/p>\n

Gestures that are sexual in nature<\/p>\n

Also included in the resolved guidelines is a note that when conduct falls into a “gray area,” the league will contact the player before imposing any discipline that may require an appeal.<\/p>\n

According NFLPA executive director JC Tretter, there were 20 celebration fines in Weeks 2 and 3, which he called “an unusual spike.” Tretter wrote on X<\/a> that all of those fined players appealed, with some already overturned.<\/p>\n

“We raised this issue and pushed for greater clarity around what will and won’t result in discipline,” Tretter wrote. “When something falls into a gray area, communication and education should come before punishment. We’re glad the league will seek to educate players before immediately defaulting to a fine.”<\/p>\n

A league source said the NFL and the NFLPA worked together to address the issue over the past couple of weeks before releasing the joint statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

When informed of the changes, Juszczyk and his teammates said they were happy to hear that he will be able to continue what has been his signature celebration.<\/p>\n

“I guess I’ve got to start thinking of my celebrations for this week pertaining to drinks,” linebacker Fred Warner<\/a> said Wednesday, laughing. “It is great for Juice because he’s been doing that same celebration for years. But yeah, man, just try to have a little fun out there. That’s what the league’s about.”br\/]<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The NFL and NFLPA announced in a joint statement Wednesday that recent player celebrations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[190820,750,57503,100,752,101,296,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-488766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-190820","tag-espn","tag-juszczyk-kyle","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}