Giants' Darius Slayton Calls Out NFL For Double Standard On Taunting Penalties After Being Wrongly Flagged

The NFL is implementing a no-tolerance policy when it comes to players taunting with what it deems as violent gestures, or at least the league is trying to enforce a no-tolerance penalty.

New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton fell victim to a taunting penalty during his team's 29-20 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. After hauling in a big-time 41-yard reception, Slayton brought out the ‘finger guns’ celebration, the same one players around the league have been doing for decades now, but was flagged for taunting.

Just about every first down in the NFL is followed by a player doing some sort of first-down pointing gesture, but clearly, the officials in Seattle thought Slayton was mimicking a gun.

Just a few hours after the Giants wrapped up their win, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb did the exact same gesture against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. Fast-forward to Monday night, and Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes and JuJu Smith-Schuster pulled out the same celebration as Slayton, yet none of the three were flagged.

Slayton took notice and fired off a snarky post on X, formerly Twitter, in response.

It's easy to sit here and say that players need to remove these types of celebrations and put down the ‘finger guns,’ but when they've played their entire careers not only doing the gesture but watching players before them do the same thing, you can't just simply flip a switch and remove it from your game.

New York Jets wide receiver Allen Lazard was recently hit with a $14,000 fine for celebrating a first down with pointed fingers. It's safe to say he didn't agree with the penalty.

"It’s very unfortunate that I’m the victim of this situation, but it is what it is. It’s a part of the NFL, and it's a part of the entertainment factor. It's something very silly," Lazard said.

The NFL has a policy against "violent gestures." It falls under unsportsmanlike conduct and is described as "any violent gesture, or an act that is sexually suggestive or offensive."