Did Josh Allen Steal His Iconic TD Celebration From Another Player?

A couple of weeks ago Josh Allen had, what is now, an almost iconic touchdown celebration.  But did he get it from someone else?

Many players have iconic touchdown celebrations

When players score touchdowns, we get to see a little bit of their personality.  While some switch it up every time, some players stick with one type of celebration every time they score.  Rob Gronkowski used to do the "Gronk spike."  Fred Jackson did the "InFREDible Hulk."  Jaylen Waddle does his iconic penguin waddle.

Josh Allen had his own iconic celly

A couple of weeks ago, Josh Allen had a sweet touchdown celebration that was fit for a poster.  While playing the Washington Commanders, Allen scrambled for about a 10-yard touchdown.  As he crossed the goal line, he jumped in the air and did what looked like a basketball finger roll.  It was meme-worthy for sure.

The final product looked like this...

Did Josh Allen see this somewhere else first?

While scrolling through Twitter today, @TheBillsGuys pointed out that it looks as though the now iconic celebration looks like it may have come from someone else first.

That's Drake Maye from the University of North Carolina in a game that went into double overtime against Appalachian State.  Is he copying Allen on that play?

So who did it first?

Allen's game with the Bills happened on September 24, 2023.  The UNC vs. App State game was on September 9, 2023.  So technically, Maye did it before Allen.

But neither of them did it first.  Players have been doing it for awhile now.  Even Ryan Tannehill is popular for doing it since 2019.

But after all that, we can all agree, Allen's looked the smoothest.