Patriots Announce Mack Hollins Personal News Same Day as Contract Restructure

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The Patriots announced personal news involving Mack Hollins on the same day they restructured the veteran wide receiver’s contract.

The New England Patriots suffered a tough 13-10 defeat in the opening game of their 2026 season on Sept. 9, a game in which newly acquired star receiver A.J. Brown was injured. Brown is expected to miss six weeks of his first season in New England.

On Sunday, Sept. 20, the Patriots face a new test when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers in their Gillette Stadium opener. Last season’s AFC champion will battle to avoid starting the 2026 campaign at 0-2.

Before the Steelers game, the Patriots announced some upbeat personal news on a fan-favorite wide receiver.

Mack Hollins celebrates a birthday today, the Patriots announced on the team’s social media channels.

Hollins turns 33 today.

Hollins’ Patriots Tenure and Incentive Overhaul

The birthday post landed the same week the Patriots quietly reworked Hollins’ contract, raising the reception thresholds tied to his 2026 incentive bonuses just as his role in the offense expands.

New England signed Hollins to a two-year, $8.4 million deal in March 2025, reuniting him with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels from their Raiders days. He started 13 of 15 games, hauling in 46 catches for 550 yards before an abdominal injury sidelined him in December, then returned for the postseason and caught a touchdown pass in the Patriots’ Super Bowl LX loss to Seattle.

That 46-catch total reached two of his old incentive tiers, worth $600,000 combined and likely to repeat in 2026, causing an extra hit against this year’s salary cap. In a deal only made public today, the Patriots and Hollins agreed Sept. 1 to raise those benchmarks to 47, 50 and 55 catches, shifting any payout’s cap impact to 2027 with no added guaranteed money in return, according to NBC Sports‘ Mike Florio.

Hollins opened this season with four catches for 51 yards in the Patriots’ 13-10 loss at Seattle. One pass intended for Hollins in the end zone was intercepted late. His workload figures to grow further after A.J. Brown’s ankle injury sidelined the Patriots’ top receiver. At his current four-catch-per-game pace, Hollins projects toward 68 receptions for the season, enough to clear every reworked incentive on the new deal.

Hollins arrived in the NFL as a fourth-round pick out of North Carolina in 2017, a former walk-on who led the nation in yards per catch two years before the draft, according to NFL.com. Philadelphia used him mostly on special teams before he settled into a full-time receiving role, and he has since caught on with five other franchises, including a Super Bowl LII ring as a rookie in Philadelphia.

Through Week 1 of this season, Hollins has piled up 212 career receptions for 2,670 yards and 17 touchdowns across 128 games, numbers built during stops in Miami, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Buffalo before he landed in Foxborough last year.

Mack Hollins’ Barefoot Reputation

Hollins is as well known for what he doesn’t wear as for what he catches. He traces his habit of going barefoot to Australian trainers he flew to Philadelphia roughly seven years ago, who preached what he called getting back to original movement.

“I’m barefoot, but I’m not a dummy,” Hollins said, explaining that he pulls on shoes once the temperature drops below 35 degrees, as quoted by Boston.com.

Buffalo Bills teammates nicknamed him “Tarzan” for his habits. Hollins compared shoes to a tool nobody needs strapped on at all times, telling reporters he views footwear the way most people view a hammer they rarely use. He also eats with his hands rather than utensils, keeps snakes and steers clear of house cats entirely. On game days, he has shown up dressed as everything from a colonial minuteman to a mad scientist to Hannibal Lecter, shackles included.

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