Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown did not hide how he felt after the NFL came calling with a stack of penalties.

After Detroit’s 41-31 loss to Buffalo in Week 2, the Lions star was assessed four separate fines for what the league labeled illegal celebrations and vulgar acts.

The common thread was a smoking gesture he made after scoring, a bit of theater that quickly became expensive.

St. Brown finished the afternoon with nine catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers would have been the story on most Sundays. Instead, the conversation shifted to the bill.

Each of the four citations carried a $14,926 price tag, a total that lands just shy of $60,000.

Other Lions were docked as well, including Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, and Penei Sewell at the same $14,926 figure for similar celebration issues, plus additional penalties on Williams for taunting and on Tyler Lacy and Devin White for facemask infractions.

St. Brown made his position plain when asked about the money.

“It’s not good, man,” he said. “Fourteen-something times four. You do the math. But I’m appealing.”

The appeal is the serious part. The Instagram story that followed was not.

On Monday, he posted a clip of himself hauling in a touchdown, then an AI-generated scene in which an on-field official offers him a light for a cigar. The joke landed because it was specific.

The league had punished the smoking pantomime; St. Brown answered by putting a referee in the role of accomplice. It was a light jab at a heavy fine, and it traveled quickly among Lions fans who already treat his celebrations as part of the show.

The NFL has spent years trying to draw a line between personality and unsportsmanlike conduct. Celebrations that once passed as harmless now trigger automatic reviews, and the dollar amounts have grown with the salary cap.

A player of St. Brown’s stature can absorb a five-figure hit more easily than a reserve, but the principle still stings. He is not the first star to treat a fine as content, and he will not be the last. The difference here is the volume: four citations in one game for the same general category of offense.

Whether the appeal reduces the total remains to be seen. What is already clear is that St. Brown intends to keep scoring and keep talking. The cigar bit was not an apology.

It was a reminder that he heard the league, did the math, and decided the punchline still belonged to him.