NFL Forced to Take U-Turn On Kyle Juszczyk & Jake Ferguson’s Punishments Amid Heavy Backlash

The NFL thought it had seen enough. A few weeks later, the league has had to walk back two of its most criticized fines of the season. Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson and San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk both won appeals over touchdown celebrations that the NFL initially viewed as simulated beer drinking.

Ferguson’s $13,611 fine was rescinded after he showed league officials that his celebration was actually a Gatorade routine he had performed before. Juszczyk also had his $14,926 fine overturned after explaining that his gesture was meant to represent drinking juice, fitting his “Juice” nickname.

For Ferguson, the breakthrough came after he brought evidence with him.

“NFL rescinded the $13,611 fine given to Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson for saying he was ‘shotgunning a beer’. Ferguson told the league it was his Gatorade celebration that he previously had done on multiple occasions in practice, as the team had documented on social media. Fine rescinded,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.

Ferguson originally drew the fine after Dallas’ Week 2 win over the Washington Commanders. He caught four passes for 43 yards and two touchdowns in the 37-20 victory, with his second-quarter score followed by a celebration that looked like he was opening and chugging a drink.

The NFL called it an “imitation of shotgunning a beer” and said the gesture was an offensive demonstration that could be considered “in poor taste.”

Ferguson immediately disagreed.

“I’m going to tell you right now, that was a Gatorade,” he said on 105.3 The Fan. “Shotgun to Gatorade.”

His appeal ultimately backed that explanation with something the league could verify. The Cowboys had footage of Ferguson performing the same celebration with Gatorade during practice, giving him a record of the gesture that predated the fine.

Kyle Juszczyk Had Been Fighting the Same Battle

Juszczyk’s case was even more complicated because his celebration had been tied to his nickname for years.

“The NFL has rescinded the $14,926 fine it imposed on 49ers FB Kyle “Juice” Juszczyk for what it thought was a distasteful celebration of chugging a beer. The league said it was withdrawing the fine “because his celebration was simulating drinking a juice box, not a beer….Mr. Juszczyk finally stated that the fine is hypocritical with the amount of Bud Light sponsorships surrounding the NFL.” Fine rescinded,” Schefter reported on Wednesday.

The 49ers fullback was fined $14,926 after mimicking a drink during San Francisco’s Week 2 victory over the Miami Dolphins. The NFL viewed it as an imitation of chugging beer, but Juszczyk insisted he was celebrating “Juice,” the nickname fans have associated with him throughout his San Francisco career.

“I wasn’t drinking beer in my celebration,” Juszczyk said after the fine became public. “I think you guys all know my nickname is ‘Juice.’”

He even made his frustration part of the joke. Juszczyk appeared before reporters with a container labeled “NOT BEER” and pointed to the juice-box graphic on his thigh pad.

The NFL eventually agreed with his explanation. The fine was rescinded because the league determined the celebration was simulating drinking from a juice box rather than a beer.

That reversal matters because the original decision had created plenty of noise around the league.

Jason Kelce called the situation “hypocrisy at the highest level,” questioning how the NFL could punish players for pretending to drink while beer branding is heavily woven into the league’s game-day environment. Juszczyk made the same argument himself, pointing to the NFL’s Bud Light sponsorships.

The NFLPA also pushed back against the broader crackdown. After a wave of celebration penalties in Week 2, the union said players had not been given proper notice that some of the gestures would now lead to fines. It also noted that some players had been performing similar celebrations for years without punishment.

That criticism gave the Ferguson and Juszczyk appeals a much bigger backdrop.

The two players were not simply trying to save their money. Their cases raised questions about how clearly the NFL had communicated its standards and whether the league had properly understood what the celebrations were meant to represent.

For Ferguson, the answer was Gatorade. And for Juszczyk, it was juice.

And after initially seeing beer in both celebrations, the NFL has now accepted those explanations and wiped out the fines.

The controversy also involved Colts guard Matt Goncalves, who was fined $8,847 for a similar celebration. His case remains separate, meaning the league has not completely closed the door on every beverage-related punishment.

But the biggest reversals have already happened. More than $28,000 in Ferguson and Juszczyk fines is no longer owed, and the NFL has been forced to acknowledge that it got those two celebrations wrong.

What started as a few seconds of post-touchdown fun has therefore turned into something much bigger for the league: a reminder that when a celebration has a different meaning to the player than it does to the officials watching it, the punishment can become harder to defend.

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