{"id":106384,"date":"2026-02-08T10:55:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T16:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=106384"},"modified":"2026-02-08T12:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T18:19:16","slug":"patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots’ Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lucy Roberts
\n<\/b>Medill Reports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

SANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 When New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was drafted from North Carolina in 2017, one of his goals was to own a world-renowned aquarium. Nine years later, he doesn\u2019t quite have the aquarium, but is an NFL veteran playing in perhaps the biggest fishbowl in the world with a quirky personality that sparks interest nationwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To those who have known him since his Tar Heel days, what some find to be odd habits \u2014 such as his aversion to shoes and drinking water \u2014 reflects a deeper mindset that has propelled him to his current success.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you see from Mack nowadays is exactly what he was then,\u201d said Larry Fedora, Hollins\u2019 former coach at North Carolina.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hollins\u2019 commitment to his team is not so different from that to his famously bare feet. Or his vegetable-less diet of the past four or five years. Or his dedication to sharing his \u201cMack Hacks\u201d on social media, which range from tutorials on folding pants to ways to remove fingerprints from stainless steel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patriots'
Hollins’ feet are bare as he answers questions from the media Feb. 4 in Santa Clara, Calif. (J.A. Adande\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOnce Mack believed in something, he would research it, and once he believed in it, he would go all out on it,\u201d Fedora said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are like, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re such a hippie,\u2019\u201d Hollins said. \u201cI feel like the body is developed to connect to a lot of things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel more connected to the Earth and I feel like my body is less stressed out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What may seem like oddities reveal a thoughtfulness in Hollins that impacts those around him, his teammates say, an infectious passion that spreads throughout any locker room he\u2019s part of.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably No.1 on the unique list,\u201d Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. \u201cBut he\u2019s actually taught me a lot \u2014 alternative medicines, things that he does, things that he eats, how he moves on the daily.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From Chapel Hill to New England, Hollins has remained singular.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hollins was not highly recruited and arrived at North Carolina as a walk-on in 2012, but immediately started to differentiate himself from others on the team, regardless of if they were on scholarship or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis work ethic, his tenacity, his determination were just out the roof,\u201d Fedora said. \u201cIt made him stand apart from everyone.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Fedora, Hollins stayed late after practice, running routes nonstop and catching ball after ball from the quarterback when he was available or the JUGS machine when he was not. Hollins led by example, and his peers selected him as a special teams captain in his freshman year \u2014 and for the three years after.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Fedora was great for my development as a player in general,\u201d Hollins said. \u201cOne of his rules was that you had to start on special teams if you wanted to start on the offense or defense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hollins\u2019 contributions on offense and special teams have led to his longevity in the league.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest things I learned from Mack was just how important the special teams phase of the game was,\u201d said Austin Proehl, Hollins\u2019 former college teammate. \u201cHe showed all of us that this is what was most important to him, and he wasn\u2019t trying to be the splash play playmaker.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hollins has been described as a journeyman; he played for five teams before signing a two-year contract with the Patriots in March 2025. His self-confidence has helped him stay in the league despite the lack of a long-term home, but he credits North Carolina with helping to instill the value of hard work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll the same principles or tenets that gave me success then are what give me success now, and that\u2019s pushing through adversity, working hard and putting in the work even when you don\u2019t know when the result is coming,\u201d Hollins said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fedora and Proehl both described Hollins the Tar Heel as someone willing to do the less glamorous work in the earliest parts of his college career. Today, he\u2019s described the same way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe works extremely hard, he keeps the team first, and he does a lot of the dirty work that people don\u2019t see,\u201d Diggs said. \u201cHe can make plays at a high level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe attacks each and every day differently than most people, and that\u2019s just kind of who he is and how he\u2019s always been,\u201d Proehl said. \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s led to his success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hollins\u2019 uniqueness makes him unpredictable, yet he is simultaneously consistent. He still dreams of having an aquarium \u2014 one big enough to swim in, he says. He still has the pet snakes he kept in his Chapel Hill apartment. And as he approaches Super Bowl LX, he attributes his success so far to an enduring work ethic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHard work always pays off,\u201d Hollins said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I did in college and it worked out then, it has worked out now, and it\u2019ll continue to work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lucy Roberts is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lucy Roberts Medill Reports SANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 When New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was drafted from North Carolina in 2017, one of his goals was to own a world-renowned aquarium. Nine years later, he doesn\u2019t quite have the aquarium, but is an NFL veteran playing in perhaps the biggest fishbowl in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":106385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5545,5543,31,5546,5544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medill-explores-2026","category-msj26","category-sports","category-super-bowl-lx","category-winter-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nPatriots' Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patriots' Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lucy Roberts Medill Reports SANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 When New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was drafted from North Carolina in 2017, one of his goals was to own a world-renowned aquarium. Nine years later, he doesn\u2019t quite have the aquarium, but is an NFL veteran playing in perhaps the biggest fishbowl in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-08T16:55:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-08T18:19:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1931\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"elisesantos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"elisesantos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/\",\"name\":\"Patriots' Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-08T16:55:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-08T18:19:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b7368e566ace4684ef3041502e9e5f2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg\",\"width\":2200,\"height\":1931,\"caption\":\"Mack Hollins at Patriots media availability Feb. 4 in Santa Clara, Calif. (Lucy Roberts\/MEDILL)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Patriots’ Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b7368e566ace4684ef3041502e9e5f2\",\"name\":\"elisesantos\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7319c3fe5f28d7c32fc03e224d4310574954bd000f6ce2062ecc46450e2c4bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7319c3fe5f28d7c32fc03e224d4310574954bd000f6ce2062ecc46450e2c4bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"elisesantos\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/elisesantos\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Patriots' Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Patriots' Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Lucy Roberts Medill Reports SANTA CLARA, Calif. \u2014 When New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was drafted from North Carolina in 2017, one of his goals was to own a world-renowned aquarium. Nine years later, he doesn\u2019t quite have the aquarium, but is an NFL veteran playing in perhaps the biggest fishbowl in […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2026-02-08T16:55:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-08T18:19:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2200,"height":1931,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"elisesantos","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"elisesantos","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/","name":"Patriots' Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-02-08T16:55:03+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-08T18:19:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b7368e566ace4684ef3041502e9e5f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/Roberts-Mack-Hollins.jpeg","width":2200,"height":1931,"caption":"Mack Hollins at Patriots media availability Feb. 4 in Santa Clara, Calif. (Lucy Roberts\/MEDILL)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/patriots-mack-hollins-has-always-been-different-its-why-hes-still-here\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Patriots’ Mack Hollins has always been different \u2014 it\u2019s why he\u2019s still here"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/2b7368e566ace4684ef3041502e9e5f2","name":"elisesantos","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7319c3fe5f28d7c32fc03e224d4310574954bd000f6ce2062ecc46450e2c4bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7319c3fe5f28d7c32fc03e224d4310574954bd000f6ce2062ecc46450e2c4bc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"elisesantos"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/elisesantos\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106384"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106392,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106384\/revisions\/106392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}