Philadelphia Eagles: Mack Hollins may be our new favorite player
After a very promising rookie season, don’t be surprised if Big Mack Hollins becomes your new favorite member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mack Hollins is an absolute treasure.
Though he only caught 22 passes for 226 yards in 2016, the second-year receiver has really started to acclimate himself to his new city thanks to his boundless charisma, and could quickly become your new favorite Philadelphia Eagle going into 2018.
The number 10 is fun again.
Whether it be his propensity for breaking out in dance at a Philadelphia 76ers game, his larger-than-life antics at the championship parade, or his recent appearance at the team’s Super Bowl ring ceremony, decked out in a vintage Eagles’ tracksuit, Hollins is truly living his best life, and could give the Eagles their most fun wide receiver in years.
After Chip Kelly wiped away the team’s core group of players over his troubled three year tenure in The City of Brotherly Love, removing vocal fan favorites like LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson in the process, the Eagles have very much been a win-by-committee team, with very few larger-than-life personalities on the offensive side of the ball.
Though Jim Schwartz‘s defense has helped to carry that load, with players like Fletcher Cox, Jalen Mills, Chris Long, and Malcolm Jenkins forming the emotional center of the team, fans and fantasy football players alike around the country have been hungrily awaiting the return of some big personalities on the offensive side of the ball.
Mack Hollins could fill that role, and then some.
After starting out the season fourth on the team’s depth chart, Hollins quickly established himself as a solid change-of-pace receiver on the outside in 2017, actually outplaying struggling starter Torrey Smith as the team’s deep threat receiver for big chunks of the season.
But measuring in at 6-foot-4, 221 pounds, Hollins is hardly a prototypical burner.
While he only caught 81 balls for 1,667 and 20 touchdowns over his 41 game career in college at UNC, Hollins averaged a very impressive 20.6 yards per catch over his career, including an eye-popping 24.8 yards per catch average in 2015, the highest mark of any receiver that year. This, when coupled with his very impressive burst, made Hollins one of the most impressive pound-for-pound receivers in the entire NFL draft, one who probably would have been drafted a lot higher had he not suffered an unfortunate knee injury while running his 40-yard dash at the 2016 NFL Draft Combine.
And now, entering his second year as a pro, Hollins will finally be able to prove that he’s a starting-caliber receiver once and for all.
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Though he will once again have to fight off a proven veteran for playing time, this time former Baltimore Ravens speedster Mike Wallace, Hollins could very well be on track to become the Eagles next breakout star at the wide receiver position alongside incumbents starters Nelson Agholor and Alshon Jeffery. 2018 is going to be fun.