Pittsburgh Steelers safety DeShon Elliott ripped the NFL after he received a fine for using an “unapproved” towel during Week 4.

The wallet for Pittsburgh Steelers safety DeShon Elliott is a little lighter this week after he received a fine for violating the NFL’s Uniform and Equipment Rules. It is safe to say Elliott is not happy with the fine.

The veteran safety took to Instagram to post his grievances. Elliott wrote a very strong message, tagging the league and NFL’s Players Association, as a caption to a picture of the letter he received from the NFL notifying him of the fine.

“Count your [expletive] days … Yall worried about the wrong things,” Elliott wrote on the Instagram post, via Steelers Now’s Chris Ward. “Let’s fix things that actually mean something.”

The letter that Elliott posted said he received the fine for wearing a black towel against the Minnesota Vikings.

“Rule 5, Section 4, Article 6, Item (5) of the 2025 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League states that ‘Towels, provided they are white only, licensed towels approved by the League office for use on the playing field. Players are prohibited from adding personal messages, logos, names, symbols, or illustrations,’” read Elliot’s letter.

“‘A player may wear no more than one towel. Players are prohibited from discarding on the playing field any loose towels or other materials used for wiping hands on the football. Streamers or ribbons, regardless of length, hanging from any part of the uniform are prohibited.’”

Steelers’ DeShon Elliott Receives Fine for Black Towel

It’s worth noting that it’s unclear if Elliott’s black towel had a message. But the league’s letter said nothing about Elliott having a prohibited message on the towel.

Presumably, the Steelers safety received the fine because his towel was black, not white.

The NFL fined Elliott $5,797 for the violation.

According to Spotrac, Elliott possesses a $2.04 million base salary this season. That means, for the black towel violation, the NFL fined Elliott about 5% of his game check for Week 4.

Elliott Stars for Steelers Defense in Week

The towel surely had nothing to do with it. But Elliott, who made his return from a knee injury Sunday, played very well against the Vikings.

The veteran safety posted six combined tackles, including one tackle for loss. Elliott also had two quarterback hits, two pass defenses, one sack, one forced fumble and an interception.

But putting aside his level of play, Elliott was very relieved to just be back on the field during Week 4.

When my knee got hurt, I thought I was out for the season,” Elliott told ESPN’s Brooke Pryor after the Steelers victory against the Vikings. “To be able to come back and play with my guys, knowing that my energy is contagious, knowing that my aggression is contagious.

“I know when I’m running with PQ [Patrick Queen], T.J. [Watt], Cam [Heyward], all of us, I know we’re gonna hunt.”

Elliott returned just as the Steelers lost veteran cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who left Week 4 with a hamstring injury.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported Monday that Ramsey is expected to miss multiple weeks. The Steelers have yet to update Ramsey’s status, but Elliott being back, black towel or not, has to give the Pittsburgh coaching staff some feeling of relief.

The Steelers could also get back cornerback Joey Porter Jr. for their next game. The team will host the Cleveland Browns on October 12 in Week 6.