Mack Hollins, in his first year with the Patriots, is putting together one of the best statistical seasons of his career.
Mack Hollins, in his first year with the Patriots, is putting together one of the best statistical seasons of his career.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
FOXBOROUGH — Earlier this season, DeMario Douglas walked into the Patriots training room and thought he was grabbing a drink of water.
The taste immediately threw him off.
“I drank it and said, ‘Bro, what is this?’ ” Douglas recalled.
A staffer then informed him, “Oh, that’s Mack’s watermelon juice.”
Douglas had instead taken a sip of the preferred beverage of fellow wide receiver Mack Hollins.
“He don’t drink water while we practice,” Douglas said. “That’s crazy.”
Hollins, who’s in his first season in New England, estimates over the past four years or so he has drunk more watermelon juice than water.
“Water’s a scam,” Hollins said. “The US water system is [expletive]. We ruin 95 percent of our water, so at least I’m going to get some good juice instead of the trash we get served, especially the league-sponsored Dasani or Aquafina. There’s my TED Talk on water.”
According to Hollins, watermelon juice promotes hydration and also contains natural electrolytes without the “added junk” of store-bought powders. He likes to make it himself, especially when watermelon is in season, by blending and then straining the fruit. Sometimes he’ll add salt.
Watermelon juice is just one distinctive element of Hollins’s diet, which consists mainly of red meat and fruit. He’ll also drink raw milk throughout the day. He hasn’t had a vegetable since 2022. He doesn’t eat cheese. He doesn’t eat seafood.
Inside his locker at Gillette Stadium, Hollins has a mini fridge that can store jugs of raw milk, among other fresh juices. Douglas, who is lactose-intolerant, and rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams have sampled the milk, both vouching that it actually tastes quite good.
“He be locking his fridge up like people be stealing that stuff,” joked quarterback Drake Maye. “Nobody is stealing that stuff.”
So, what does an ideal slate of meals look like for Hollins?
The quantity depends on the time of the year, but during the offseason Hollins says he eats six pasture-raised eggs, half a pound to a pound of grass-fed, grass-finished ground beef, one to two ounces of raw beef liver or heart, and fruit for breakfast. He has ground beef, often prepared as burger patties, and fruit for lunch. And he eats ribeye steak and fruit for dinner.
“I’m fine eating the same thing every day,” Hollins said. “I have no problem with it. Some diets, people don’t enjoy them and that’s why they can’t stay on them. I like eating ribeye every night. I like eating fruit all the time. I like eating burgers and eggs. Those things, I like. So, I never feel like, ‘Ugh, I have to eat this.’ ”
Although Hollins is confident in his choices, he doesn’t judge others for theirs. Nor does he think everybody should adopt his regimen. To each his own, he says.
But Hollins encourages people to think critically about the food they’re consuming, where it came from, and how it reached their table. He questions why food has to undergo various processes and why some ingredient lists are so long.
“I try to look at things and think, ‘What makes me feel good?’ and then, ‘How can I get down to the most basic version possible?’ ” he said.
“I don’t tell everybody, ‘Don’t eat veggies.’ But if you’re going to eat veggies, get the good ones. Don’t get the ones that are sprayed in chemicals. It’s easy for a big company to say, ‘You should eat our food. It’s not bad for you.’ OK, well then why does the worker have a hazmat suit on when he sprays it? Do you just throw some water on it and, all of a sudden, it’s gone? Or do you just let it sit there? It can’t be that good for you if he’s in a hazmat suit.”
Hollins sees value in prioritizing fresh, local products. If he knows enough about the cow that produced his steak, he is comfortable eating the meat raw.
“With commodity meat, the cow’s not taken care of properly,” Hollins said. “It’s forced food. It’s not slaughtered properly. But it’s cheap and easy to get to everybody. And I get that. You can build a large country doing that. I’m not saying that’s a bad system. It’s a system that works well. But is it the healthiest for us? Probably not.”
The Patriots have embraced wide receiver Mack Hollins and his eccentricities.
The Patriots have embraced wide receiver Mack Hollins and his eccentricities.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Hollins does his best to keep a strict diet, limiting his intake of processed foods, but he’ll still eat ramen noodles if he’s craving them. After a win, he’ll put peanut M&M’s in a water bottle and shake it to form his special concoction: “chocolate water.”
Before game day, Hollins might be his most indulgent. He eats nearly everything in sight, creating a massive plate with a variety of the food served to the players. Just the mention of Hollins’s Saturday night feast brings disgust to quarterback Tommy DeVito’s face.
“Basically, if you go down the buffet line, I’m essentially eating it all,” Hollins said. “I’m taking a bite from here, and here, and here, and here. [Tommy] clowns me for it.”
“Have you seen ‘Elf’? When Buddy had the pasta?” DeVito asked. “Everything is all at the same time.”
At the crux of Hollins’s diet and other unique habits is a desire for simplicity. He tries to live a minimalist lifestyle, cutting down on his number of clothes and material possessions. He meditates and practices breath work. He doesn’t use utensils when he’s eating. He prefers to go about his daily life without shoes. He doesn’t ride the elevator at team hotels, taking the stairs — sometimes all the way up to the 24th floor.
Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins prefers not wearing shoes.
Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins prefers not wearing shoes.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
At 32, Hollins feels stronger than he ever has, physically and mentally, with optimism that he can maintain such strength for an extended period.
“Do I have actual numbers to back it? Probably not,” Hollins said. “But it works for me. If somebody else in the locker room did it, they might hate it and feel terrible. Because it’s not for you. Do what works for you. I think if you talk to anybody who’s eight years-plus in the league, they’re all going to have a different diet, but the one thing that’s the same is they’re consistent with whatever they do.”
The recipe seems to be working in New England, where Hollins is on pace for one of the best statistical seasons of his career. Through 11 games, he’s caught 30 passes on 38 targets for 387 yards and two touchdowns, while also helping with run-blocking. He’s also served as an important veteran leader, alongside Stefon Diggs, inside the wide receiver room.
The locker room has embraced Hollins and his eccentricities.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “He walks around like Encino Man, but he’s smart. He’s easy to talk to. I enjoy our conversations.”
“You ask him something, he could give you an answer on anything,” added Williams, who is locker neighbors with Hollins. “He’s really interesting. A lot of conspiracy theories with him. Every day is interesting. Every day is something new.”
Hollins knows he’s not for everyone. He knows some people will think he’s fake or weird (or both) for his lifestyle choices. But he doesn’t care. He’s just being himself.
“I think that’s one of the things that’s helped me the most, especially in my career,” he said. “I’m at my best when I’m just being myself. Don’t be afraid to be yourself in whatever you’re doing. Not everybody is going to like it, but the people that are for you will find you.”
Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com. Follow her on X @nicolecyang.