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Veteran WR compares ‘weird’ Bills team to this Super Bowl-winner

Veteran wide receiver Mack Hollins was complimentary of his time with the Buffalo Bills thus far during a recent podcast appearance.

Kyle Silagyi

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Mack Hollins has been the talk of One Bills Drive since his March onboarding not only thanks to his veteran leadership and ‘edge,’ but also because of a rather unique personality quirk: the veteran wideout does not wear shoes.

The only time the 30-year-old dons footwear is in airports and bathrooms, meaning that he’ll work out, take the practice field, and generally traverse the team’s facility barefoot. This was initially met with pause by the Buffalo Bills locker room, but several within the organization—including quarterback Josh Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady—have slowly come around to the idea, starting to fold the ‘grounded’ philosophy into their routine. Hollins estimated at the team’s training camp in July that 30 Buffalo players had started going through walkthroughs barefoot.

The pass-catcher spoke about his new team embracing the grounded lifestyle during a recent appearance on the Green Light with Chris Long podcast, telling the host that he’s enjoyed his time in Western New York thus far and that it’s been humorous to see his teammates (at least partially) adopt the philosophy.

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“I love it,” Hollins said. “It’s been amazing. Even like the, we’re joking about the barefoot stuff, but having that be accepted, and like, guys don’t care. Everybody’s going to be barefoot. Joe Brady’s barefoot. It’s like, whatever, I love that, because I was the weird guy, now look. I got all y’all, now who’s the weirdo? I’ve just got a weird team, and I love that.”

A fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2017 NFL Draft, Hollins briefly shared a locker room with Long, a long-time NFL pass-rusher who played in the City of Brotherly Love from 2017–2018. The two hoisted a Lombardi Trophy with each other, both appearing in every game for the Philadelphia team that went 13-3 in the 2017 NFL season before besting the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Long asked Hollins if he sees any similarities between that year’s Eagles and this season’s Bills; the wideout stated there is some resemblance, mainly in the standard the teams set for themselves.

Mack Hollins
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“In a lot of ways, it does [feel like the 2017 Eagles],” Hollins said. “Even from the way we practice, what the standard is . . . Sometimes the practice standard is not that great, and you kind of know early, like, ‘Oh, we’re not good enough. We can tell ourselves we’re going to be good but we don’t practice hard enough.’ Like, here, first practice at OTAs, I’m like, ‘Oh, these guys go.’ Weight room, I’m like, ‘Oh, these guys come here.’ Does everybody want to lift every day? No, but we’re going to get the work in because we’re there, and we enjoy being around each other.”

Hollins’ primary impact in his 2017 rookie campaign came on special teams, as he caught only 16 passes for 226 yards throughout the season. He hasn’t been a significant offensive contributor throughout his entire professional career, reeling in 131 passes for 1,691 yards and 10 scores throughout his six professional seasons; this could change this fall in Orchard Park, however, as he could be in for a potentially significant role in Buffalo’s revamped receiving corps. He’s earned frequent praise throughout the offseason thanks to his character, and he’s now set to catch balls from the best quarterback he’s ever been paired with in Josh Allen; though age-31 breakouts are rare in the NFL, the idea isn’t egregious with regard to Hollins given his advantageous situation.

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Kyle Silagyi
KYLE SILAGYI

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