Steelers Safety DeShon Elliott Absolutely Goes Off On NFL After Recent Fine: "Count Your F**** Days"

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a great game overall in Week 4 against the Minnesota Vikings. Aside from the final handful of minutes, Pittsburgh thoroughly outcoached and outplayed its opponent in all facets of the game. The first ever regular season game in Dublin, Ireland was a huge success. Croke Park was electric as ownership saw its dreams come true in real time. It was a massive success for the NFL too, and it's safe to say that there will be more games played there in the years to come. 

Despite this great moment in NFL history, the league has proven to still be sticklers about certain parts of the rules. On his Instagram account, safety DeShon Elliott posted a picture of a fine he received from the league offices to his story, as he apparently had a towel that did not fit within what was allowed in the rules. He also added a very threatening caption onto that letter before calling for change.

"Count your f**** days," Elliott said. "Y'all worried about the wrong things. Let's fix things that actually mean something. @NFL @NFLPA."

The fine came from Elliott having an "unapproved black towel" on the field during the game in Dublin, as opposed to a standard white one. The fine is just for $5,797, which is an oddly specific number, like most fines the NFL hands out. Either way, he is clearly upset about the enforcement of that type of rule, and he made sure viewers knew about it. 

The rule does make sense in theory. With a black towel, it's much easier to hide foreign substances, as opposed to a league-mandated plain white towel. Elliott has never been known to be a cheater in any way, but it's better for the league to be safe than sorry in that regard. The star safety still wants to see some change, which is why he tagged the NFL, as well as the NFL Players Association in his story.

Elliott has always been one to tell things as he sees them, which has sometimes gotten him in trouble. Him telling the NFL to "count your days" could result in another fine being tacked on as well, as that could easily be taken as a threat. The bye week is meant to be a time to get healthy, recover mentally, and get right for the rest of the season. The starting safety seems to not be taking the time off as well as he could.

Steelers Have Had Worse Equipment Fines Over The Years

The Steelers are no strangers to the NFL fining them for equipment violations, and with a lot less reasoning than with Elliott and his towel. For example, defensive tackle Cameron Heyward has repeatedly been fined because his eye black said "Iron Head" on it, which was meant to honor his late father. That should definitely be allowed, and the NFL putting up punitive fines for that is definitely questionable.

Running back DeAngelo Williams has also been fined for an eye black message. His read "Find the Cure" to honor his late mother, who passed due to breast cancer. That same week, William Gay was fined for wearing purple cleats to raise awareness for domestic violence. All these fines like this really don't take much out of a player's bank account; it's just sometimes unreasonable to have these guidelines in place.

Elliott is next in line to receive a fine for an equipment issue that most people never even noticed until he posted about it on Instagram. Now, there will be a microscope on him specifically to see what color his towel is as it hangs out of his pants for the rest of the season. He may be counting his own days until another fine pops up in his locker.

What do you think about Elliott being fined, as well as his reaction to it? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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