As part of their plan to set young franchise QB Drake Maye up for success, this offseason the New England Patriots did a complete overhaul of their receiver room, which was arguably the worst in football last year. Part of that retooling included signing veteran Mack Hollins.
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He was not exactly their star acquisition at the receiver position. The big-bodied receiver was signed to a two-year, $8.4 million contract on March 14. He now sits fifth in the depth chart, but despite that, you probably know his name because of his strange antics, which he shares on TikTok, where he has a substantial following.
Last year, while playing for the Buffalo Bills, Hollins took to plunging into the snow with nothing but his skivvies on. He has continued his strange habits after his intra-division move to the Pats. The most notable is his consistency in remaining barefoot when not playing football. And Hollins shared a very strange reason for why he insists on going around without shoes.
“The walk in, no matter what the temperature is, I’m going in barefoot. Unless it gets below 35. … I think the word I guess people use [for why I’m dedicated to going barefoot] is the pussification of America. People are so soft now. Like bro, do something hard for once. It’s not even hard to wear no shoes. But like, if it gets below 35, I’m not an idiot, I’ll put shoes on. But walking into games, no matter what, I have to be barefoot.”
#Patriots WR Mack Hollins on why he is committed to being barefoot:
“The pussification of America. People are so soft now. Like bro, do something hard for once. It’s not even hard to wear no shoes… walking into games, no matter what, I have to be barefoot.”
(🎥 @BussinWTB) pic.twitter.com/iO2AylaEy7
— Carlos A. Lopez (@LosTalksPats) August 13, 2025
We’re not really sure how walking around barefoot combats the so-called “pussification of America” (which is not a phrase we have come across prior to this Mack Hollins interview), but it seems to be important to him. At least he’s not crazy enough to literally freeze his toes off because of this peculiar belief.
Fans were not impressed with his reasoning, and rightfully so. “Oh f*ck right off with that sh*t. I hope he stubs his toe and it really annoys him for a little bit. I hope when he puts socks on they’re perpetually damp,” one hilariously angry fan ranted. “Well yeah, he’s barefoot 24/7. His feet are wet and covered in bird shit and human spit,” responded another.
“Man a lot of the guys that play this sport are really not intelligent anywhere else in life huh,” said a third. “If he wants to do something hard for once how about more than 400 yards in a season again,” pointed out another, referencing the fact that Hollins has only topped 400 yards once in his career (2022 with the Raiders).
Hollins’s eccentric personality is how he stays in the public eye, because it certainly isn’t his footballing ability. He’s a solid pro, but he’s fifth in New England’s depth chart behind free agent acquisition Stefon Diggs, top holdover DeMario Douglas, third-round rookie Kyle Williams, and Kayshon Boutte.
Hollins comes to the Patriots at age 31 and coming off a 31-reception 378-yard season with Buffalo last year. He also had a career-high five TDs, which paced the team. He won’t get nearly that many looks in 2025 if he remains this low on the depth chart, however.
With that in mind, it might behoove Hollins to lock in more on the football side of things, rather than creating videos for his nearly 200k followers. He turned heads recently with a video about alien conspiracy theories that is not not entertaining.
