Patriots receiver Mack Hollins’ barefoot escapades reach a new plateau in second New England season

Mack Hollins has turned the proverbial corner as a New England Patriots wide receiver, but not in the ordinary way one might think, like his speed is improved or he reads defenders better now. This is more about his feet.

His habitually unapologetic bare feet.

Hollins reports that in his second year on the Patriots roster, his life habit of walking everywhere in his bare feet has gained acceptance locally. He knows this because restaurants are welcoming him in and allowing him to dine – sans shoes.

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"I love it," Hollins told reporters at Patriots training camp during an interview session conducted barefoot. "It's really great because now they're kind of letting me slide being barefoot in restaurants and stuff because they know who I am.

"At first, it was like, some homeless guy coming in here, but now it's like the mechanic homeless guy so it's all right. So yeah, it's been great."

Let this marinate.

If you're pretty much disgusted by somebody else's bare feet on display anywhere but a beach, you're not going to be a fan. If you're thinking this is an attention-seeking move, well, maybe. Hollins has been known to stand out and not shy from attention.

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But if you're a Patriots' fan and watched last season when Hollins unexpectedly started 13 regular-season games and two postseason games, and scored the team's only touchdown on a 35-yard reception in the Super Bowl LX, you might be more accepting of the guy's eccentricities.

And Hollins has a few.

He doesn't, for example, use forks or spoons or chopsticks or any other eating utensils. He uses his hands to eat because, he says, it helps him correctly gauge the temperature of the food which prepares his mouth for what's coming.

So, these New England restaurants are showing love to the barefoot guy who eats with his hands.

"Every team I've been on, you ask them who's the weirdest guy they're going to say Mack," Hollins once admitted.

But this isn't aloof weird.

Or disruptive weird.

It's perhaps endearing weird.

"Yeah, yeah, it's not like a bad weird," Hollins said.

It's weird like Hollins showing up to NFL games in Buffalo's frigid temperatures shirtless. Also barefoot, of course, despite the ice and snow on the ground.

It's weird like him arriving to the 2025 AFC Championship game between the Bills and Kansas City Chiefs wearing an Animal Muppet character — you know, the red thing that plays drums — mask.

All that aside, shoeless Mack Hollins is gaining traction in New England. And he has an explanation why he prefers to do without footgear when he's not actually in a game.

"I think shoes are a tool and people have made them a part of their body," Hollins once said. "I wouldn't walk around with a hammer just because I might need a hammer sometimes."

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