San Jose, California \u2014 On the opening night of Super Bowl 60, New England Patriots wideout Mack Hollins was willing to chat with reporters \u2014 as long as the conversation steered clear of football.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo football on Monday, just fun questions,\u201d Hollins said with a grin.<\/p>\n
Instead of dissecting the big game or his role in it, the Maryland native talked about life beyond the field \u2014 what he might do if he ever stopped playing. He joked that he could see himself living out in the woods, pursuing regenerative farming, trying out something like the survival show Alone in Alaska, or maybe even selling cars. \u201cWho knows,\u201d he said. \u201cReally, whatever you feel like doing in life. I\u2019ve always been told to push as hard as you can, no matter who you are. So football happened to be the path I chose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollins said he\u2019s thought about starting a farm, but for now his full attention is on his playing career. \u201cHopefully I can play another 100 years,\u201d he laughed. \u201cBut right now I don\u2019t know exactly what I\u2019m going to do when I\u2019m done. I want to give myself a chance to play as long as I can and then see what Mack really wants to do outside of football.\u201d<\/p>\n
His pregame habit of walking the field barefoot and showing up in unusual game-day outfits has made him something of a sideshow during New England\u2019s Super Bowl run. But the 32-year-old receiver is still in the league for a reason: the 6-foot-4, 214-pound veteran \u2014 now with his fifth NFL team \u2014 is enjoying his best season, finishing the regular year with 46 catches for 550 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Those offbeat rituals reflect his personality, Hollins said, but he\u2019s careful to keep performance first. \u201cEven back in high school, people say, \u2018Mac was always the weird one,\u2019\u201d he noted. \u201cAnd realistically, at the end of the day, if you don\u2019t perform, you\u2019re just a weirdo. For me, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, he plays on Sunday, so it\u2019s okay.\u2019 But the moment I don\u2019t play, it\u2019s like, \u2018Why is he wearing that?\u2019 or \u2018Why isn\u2019t he wearing shoes?\u2019 or \u2018He doesn\u2019t care about the team.\u2019 That\u2019s the business we\u2019re in. You have to live and die by the same story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hollins traces the barefoot routine back to his early days with the Philadelphia Eagles, when he connected with a rehabilitation team in Melbourne via YouTube after a 2017 groin injury. That initial contact led to treatment in Philadelphia and later trips to Australia, forging a nearly decade-long relationship with that recovery facility. \u201cI was trying to retire and they treated me,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThey showed up in Philadelphia barefoot and I thought, \u2018What the hell are they doing?\u2019 Three years later I visited them in Australia and trained barefoot with them, and I feel like I\u2019ve grown since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the field, Hollins is one piece of a receiving group that has helped support young quarterback Drake Maye, who has quietly emerged as an MVP candidate. Stefon Diggs paced the team with 85 catches for 1,013 yards \u2014 the seventh 1,000-yard season of his career \u2014 while tight end Hunter Henry has become a reliable target with 60 catches for 768 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. Kyshon Boutte chipped in 35 receptions for 551 yards and six scores.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach (Josh) McDaniels does a great job of spreading the ball around,\u201d Diggs said. \u201cOne of the reasons we\u2019ve had success offensively is because everyone\u2019s getting a piece of the pie. This week they might get a little more, next week they might get a little less. \u2026 We have stars. People might not call them stars, but I watch them play every day in practice. I understand how they work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diggs added that Hollins\u2019 team-first attitude shows up beyond the stat sheet. \u201cWhen a player catches the ball, I see Mack Hollins celebrating with him. Mack Hollins will make a big catch over the middle, and I\u2019ll celebrate with him. I really want the guys around me to win. I want them to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okay, Mac \u2014 I had to bring the football angle in after all.<\/p>\n
Fan Take: Hollins\u2019 blend of individuality and reliable production is a reminder that personality can coexist with performance, and his role in a balanced Patriots offense highlights how depth and chemistry fuel team success. For NFL fans, his story underscores the growing importance of versatile, team-oriented playmakers in a league that rewards both star power and selfless contributors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Jose, California \u2014 On the opening night of Super Bowl 60, New England Patriots wideout Mack Hollins was willing to chat with reporters \u2014 as long as the conversation steered clear of football. \u201cNo football on Monday, just fun questions,\u201d Hollins said with a grin. Instead of dissecting the big game or his role […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[859],"tags":[860],"class_list":{"0":"post-41117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}