If you think your cell phone bill is bad, you should check out the price Saints wideout Michael Thomas paid to sneak a flip phone into the Superdome and stuff it into a goal post. Thomas pulled off a next-level homage honoring Joe Horn after scoring a long touchdown pass in the Saints win over the Rams last week.
And he's been dinged by the NFL for it, pretty significantly, drawing $30,000 in total fines for the celebration.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the fines came for two reasons. One, Thomas used a prop following a touchdown, which was obvious to anyone who saw it. When Horn pulled off his initial celebration, everyone melted down about NFL receivers RUINING FOOTBALL with their shenanigans.
There was plenty of outrage when Thomas' celebration happened, but most of it was about Thomas potentially costing his team with a penalty of 15 yards after the celebration. He did cost his team the yardage, but scoring a 72-yard touchdown, extending the Saints lead and setting the record for most receiving yards in a single game might have been worth the penalty.
What Thomas probably didn't bank on seeing from the NFL was the "mobile device in the bench area" part of the penalty. That's a real kick in the pants by the NFL -- Thomas obviously violated the rule that is designed to keep people from having cell phones in and around their team's bench area, but he clearly wasn't using a FLIP PHONE in order to tweet or find info or whatever.
#Saints WR Michael Thomas was fined $30,000 for his Joe Horn-esque use of a cell phone as a prop after his touchdown, I’m told. The infractions were for using the phone as a prop and having a mobile device in the bench area.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 10, 2018
The NFL clearly didn't like the idea of Thomas putting a cell phone in the goal post because it would likely encourage other people to potentially use different props in touchdown celebrations. And the league might be worried that too many old-school celebrations are creeping in -- Kevin Byard of the Titans also danced on the star at midfield of the Cowboys' stadium.
Either way, a message clearly got sent to Thomas and the rest of the league that utilizing props will not be something the league lets happen on a regular basis.
