Before Justin Herbert, Johnny Manziel Was Fined $12,000 and Geno Smith Was Slammed By Fans for Middle Finger Gesture

In a game that’s filled with as much testosterone as football is, the notion of seeing one or two guys ‘flipping the bird’ at each other isn’t inherently alien. At the moment, it may even be a sincere gesture, but once the game ends and they receive a five-digit fine from the league’s office, they tend to regret it.

Nevertheless, it’s still pretty rare to see a player making the gesture towards neither a fan nor another player, but rather the media. At least, that’s what it appeared Justin Herbert was doing while arriving at Allegiant Stadium for his Week 2 showcase against the Las Vegas Raiders.

It seems as if there’s a lot of birds flying around in Vegas this time of year. The Raiders newfound QB1, Geno Smith, certainly helped to spark some interest early in the 2025 preseason by letting the gesture fly towards the crowd while taking to the field with the rest of the team.

Smith recently admitted that, despite having spent the last five years of his career with them, he never once felt that the Seahawks were ‘his team.’ Suffice to say, he made sure to reflect that sentiment towards his former fan base after one Seattle fan held up a sign labeling him as a “bust.”

Smith wouldn’t stop there either, as he would go on to ruin opening Sunday for Seattle as well. The 34-year-old veteran managed to throw for 362 yards and a touchdown against the Seahawks, ensuring that their regular season starts on a sour note with a 20-13 loss.

And then there’s Johnny Manziel, arguably the most well-known perpetrator in NFL history. The former Cleveland Brown, who was enduring an absolute beat down at the hands of the then-Washington Redskins, was clearly both flustered and frustrated.

Instead of throwing a touchdown pass, however, Manziel elected to throw the universal gesture instead, and he was immediately fined for doing so.

Simply put, there’s a lot of different reasons to why someone may elect to shoot someone the finger in the world of football. Tensions are almost always running high, and anything that could be perceived as disrespect is routinely met with an equally demeaning gesture, sometimes verbal, and sometimes physical.

To put it plainly, this is something worth keeping in mind before you decide to let the offensive lineman know what you think of his performance while sitting in the lower level of the stadium. At the end of the day, it takes both sides to ensure that player-and-fan interactions are positive.