The New England Patriots made some serious investments in their roster in the first offseason under head coach Mike Vrabel, including at wide receiver. Among the players added was veteran Mack Hollins, who joined on a two-year, $8.4 million free agency deal in March 2025.
Hollins came to Foxborough with a mixed bag of production, but his experience under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels seemingly paid dividends: he had a decent overall season, and should be able to compete for a role yet again
this summer.
Hard facts
Name: Mack Hollins
Position: Wide receiver
Jersey number: 13
Opening day age: 32 (9/16/1993)
Measurements: 6’4”, 221 lbs, 33 1/4” arm length, 9 3/4” hand size, 4.53s 40-yard dash, N/A Relative Athletic Score
Experience
NFL: Philadelphia Eagles (2017-19), Miami Dolphins (2019-21), Las Vegas Raiders (2022), Atlanta Falcons (2023), Buffalo Bills (2024), New England Patriots (2025-) | College: North Carolina (2012-16)
A wide receiver and part-time defensive back at Wootton High School in his hometown of Rockville, MD, Hollins did not just flow under the radar as a recruit, he wasn’t even on it. After not receiving any scholarship offers, he spent a postgrad year at Fork Union Military Academy before joining the University of North Carolina as a walk-on in 2012.
After redshirting as a true freshman and playing exclusively on special teams in his second year in Chapel Hill, Hollins became one of the most reliable receivers in UNC history. Over his final three seasons with the Tar Heels, and despite missing half his senior campaign with a broken clavicle, he caught 81 passes for 1,667 yards and 20 touchdowns.
The one-time second-team All-ACC selection (2015) eventually made the jump to the NFL as a fourth-round selection by the Eagles in 2017. As a rookie, he contributed 17 catches and a touchdown during the team’s Super Bowl campaign but failed to take the next step over the coming seasons; he missed his sophomore campaign with a groin injury and was waived during his third year in Philadelphia.
Hollins was claimed off waivers by the Dolphins, with whom he spent the next two and a half seasons and was named captain once (2021). After five years as a role player, he finally had a breakout season in 2022: playing under the aforementioned Josh McDaniels, he caught 57 passes for 690 yards and 4 touchdowns in 16 starts with the Raiders.
His stats took a hit again in 2023 with the Falcons, but he partially managed to rebound during his 2024 campaign as a Bill. After trading Buffalo for New England the following offseason, Hollins produced one of the best seasons of his career. In total, he has appeared in 135 combined regular season and playoff games and hauled in 220 total passes for 2,861 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Scouting report
Strengths: Standing at 6-foot-4 and 221 pounds, Hollins is a big-bodied receiver who knows how to make the most of his build. He has shown the ability to out-box defenders at the catch point and time his jumps well, and can also extend his radius to be a factor on off-target throws; smaller defenders will have a hard time covering him 1-on-1. He also uses his size well as a blocker, and at times almost looks like a receiver/tight end hybrid even at 221 pounds. Hollins is aggressive at the point of attack, and generally playing the position with a blue-collar attitude; he is willing to put his body on the line to fight for yards.
In addition to his size, Hollins also has some surprising fluidity in his lower body. He is fairly quick off the snap and does not take long to reach his maximum speed. He also goes through his breaks smoothly, and is particularly capable working back toward the football. He also has a feel for finding soft spots in zone coverage, and can successfully stack defensive backs in man-to-man situations. He also is a good player on off-script plays due to his understanding of offenses’ scramble rules.
Hollins makes use of those skills especially in the intermediate game; he is a very good route runner in that area of the field. That said, he has the versatility to help across the board; he is capable of lining up both on the outside and on the inside as a big slot, and has some quality special teams play on his pre-Patriots résumé. He furthermore has been praised for his leadership skills, off-field personality and willingness to work on his craft. One example is his drop rate: after posting a drop rate of 7.5% over his first five non-injured seasons in the NFL, he has stood at just 0.6% over the last three years.
Weaknesses: Hollins has good size and adequate movement skills, but is not the most explosive or smooth athlete. His burst and straight-line speed are comparatively average, while his change of direction and general agility are nothing to write home about either. As a consequence, he is an inconsistent deep-field target and actually does his best work in the short-to-intermediate parts of the field.
That said, he also is limited as a yards-after-catch player: Hollins has forced just seven missed tackles and posted an average YAC of 3.1 over the course of his NFL career so far. He also tends to be too overeager as a blocker; while able to move bodies in the run game and on screen plays, overaggressiveness sometimes leads to inadequate attack angles and penalties.
2025 review
Stats: 17 games (15 starts) | 747 offensive snaps (55.0%), 45 special teams snaps (8.2%) | 74 targets, 52 catches (70.3%), 679 receiving yards (13.1/catch), 3 TDs, 0 drops | 1 carry, 4 yards | 1 missed special teams tackle | 1 penalty (incl. 0 declined/offsetting)
Season recap: After a one-year stint in Buffalo, which saw him reverse course coming off a challenging 2023 campaign in Atlanta, Hollins entered free agency with some momentum on his side. He turned it into a two-year, $8.4 million contract with the Patriots, adding a third AFC East team to his career collection.
Hollins was one of multiple prominent additions to New England’s wide receiver group in the first offseason under head coach Mike Vrabel. The team also added fellow free agent Stefon Diggs and third-round rookie Kyle Williams, both of whom capable players in their own rights. However, at the end of the day, Hollins still managed to earn a regular role on the team: his average in-game snap rate of 67.7% — i.e. excluding games missed due to injury — ranked first on the team, just ahead of Kayshon Boutte’s 67.6%.
Whenever Hollins was available, he was a prominent part of the Patriots’ offensive operation in 2025 as a hybrid outside receiver capable of lining up as a Z and an X. As such, he posted some of the best numbers of his career.
Including playoffs, Drake Maye targeted him on 74 occasions with 52 of those passes getting completed for 679 yards and three touchdowns. Among those scores was the Patriots’ first touchdown in the Super Bowl, an impressive display of his ability to track the ball and stay concentrated throughout the process of completing the catch.
Hollins might have his limitations, but plays like this show that he is very much capable of positively contributing as a complementary player within an offense. He was just that for the Patriots in 2025, despite starting 15 of the 17 games he appeared in, and kept making positive plays when targeted; his 0% drop rate illustrates this, as does the fact that he ranked third among the team’s regular targets with 1.72 yards per route run.
Of course, Hollins’ season was not just sunshine and rainbows either. He still had his occasional hiccups which included missing four games on injured after suffering a lacerated spleen in late December against Baltimore.
On the whole, however, both he and the Patriots can feel quite good about his first year with the team. Besides his production as a WR2 or WR3, he also was praised for his motivational tactics: trying to push teammates to their limits, Hollins took on a leadership role on offense and provided mentorship to some of his younger teammates all year long.
2026 preview
Position: X/Z-receiver | Ability: Fringe starter/Role player | Contract: Signed through 2026 (2027 UFA)
What will be his role? Effectively a top three receiver for the Patriots game in and game out, Hollins played a prominent role within their offense in 2025. At the moment, the signs point toward the same being the case in 2026 as well. However, there are multiple factors beyond his control that might end up muddying the waters: the projected trade for starter-caliber X-receiver A.J. Brown; Kayshon Boutte possibly being on the trade block; the emergence of sophomore Kyle Williams; and the addition of third-round tight end Eli Raridon. While all of those could impact his exposure, Hollins’ role itself will likely remain largely unchanged and again see him line up in multiple spots both on the perimeter and in the slot.
What is his growth potential? Entering his 10th year in the NFL, Hollins is very much defined as a player. He has his strength and his shortcomings, and any major change in any area should not be expected. That is not necessarily a bad thing, though: in a wide receiver room filled with uncertainty, youth and new additions, Hollins — especially in a Josh McDaniels offense — is a known commodity.
Does he have positional versatility? Hollins is a moderately versatile player. While his general skillset limits his usage to a degree — he won’t receive many handoffs or screen passes, for example — he has been productive against man and zone coverage and is positionally flexible on both offense and, in theory, special teams.
What is his salary cap situation? Coming out of the 2025 season, the Patriots slightly tweaked Hollins’ contract: they added a fully-guaranteed $400,000 signing bonus to make up for an incentive he missed out on by just four catches. As a consequence, his 2026 salary cap number increased by the appropriate amount and now stands at $5.55 million. Besides that new signing bonus, that number also consists of a $750,000 proration of his original 2025 signing bonus, a $2.9 million salary, a $150,000 offseason workout bonus, $750,000 in active roster bonuses classified as likely to be earned, and $600,000 in LTBE incentives.
How safe is his roster spot? Fiscally speaking, releasing Hollins would not bring about too big of a financial burden; with no guarantees left outside of his combined $1.15 million in signing bonuses, the team could easily let go of him at one point. However, even when considering the likely A.J. Brown trade that might not be the best move to maximize the Patriots’ chances in 2026. Hollins is not a world beater and will turn 33 early in the season, but he is a perfectly fine and well-established option to be inserted into the lineup as a WR2/WR3-type operator.
Summary: Hollins is a 1-of-1 character off the field and also showed his value on the field in 2025. That does not guarantee he will see the end of his deal in New England, but he should be in prime position to compete not just for a roster spot but a fringe-starter role even in what could be a new-look receiver room.
What do you think about Mack Hollins heading into the 2026 season? Will he continue to find his way into the rotation? And if so, in what capacity? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.
