Patriots Find Their Heart in Barefoot WR Mack Hollins

When a glass shattered in the New England Patriots cafeteria during summer training camp, staffers frantically told Mack Hollins to freeze. The barefoot wide receiver just smiled and kept walking.

Hollins hasn't regularly worn shoes in a decade, not since he started working with Australian trainers who convinced him bare feet make him stronger. Now in his first season with the Patriots, his fifth team in five years, he's becoming something nobody expected: the beating heart of a Super Bowl contender.

The Patriots are fun again. They're likable underdogs, and right in the center of their surprising success is a shoeless wonder who drinks raw milk straight from the udder and keeps tortilla chips and Legos in his locker.

Rookie wide receiver Efton Chism III has been nicknamed "Mini Mack Hollins" because he follows his mentor everywhere. They arrive at the facility before dawn, study practice plans in the coach's office, and run barefoot together on off days.

Why This Inspires

Hollins' real superpower isn't his feet. It's his fierce belief in the people around him.

When Mitchell Trubisky was preparing for his first college start at North Carolina, he figured he had two years to impress NFL scouts. Hollins, a senior with one season left, insisted they'd both play so well that year that the NFL would have no choice but to draft them early.

Trubisky went second overall in 2017 after just 13 college starts. "He changed my whole mindset," Trubisky says.

Hollins doesn't sugarcoat things. When Chism makes a play he's proud of, Hollins goes full drill sergeant: "Man, that was all right, but you should have scored." His teammates call him aggressive, blunt, even cutthroat, but they all smile when they say it.

Special teamer Brenden Schooler hears Hollins yelling encouragement from the sideline every time he lines up. Offensive tackle Caedan Wallace has "sauna talks" with him about Point Nemo, the most remote place on Earth. Quarterback Tommy DeVito now drinks raw milk because Hollins convinced him it has more vitamins.

When Hollins joined the Bills in 2024, Trubisky watched half the team start walking around barefoot at walkthroughs within weeks. "He makes believers out of people," Trubisky says, "because he's a believer in them."

Coach Mike Vrabel has noticed the offense dragging late in practice, waiting for someone to make a play, and he keeps watching Hollins do exactly that. The quirky habits get attention, but it's the relentless positivity and honest belief in his teammates that's transforming a franchise.

Now the Patriots are headed to the Super Bowl, and at the center of their unlikely run is a man who won't let broken glass or conventional wisdom slow him down.