If you watched the Buffalo Bills’ 2024 NFL season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, you witnessed wide receiver Mack Hollins catch a crucial pass from quarterback Josh Allen, score a touchdown, and tie the game, which the Bills went on to win 28 to 34.
Hollins, a seven-year NFL veteran who won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018, doesn’t want to be known for that play and others like it, though. Apparently, he has dreams like those of many teenagers and wannabe influencers—to go viral on TikTok.
While the occasional post about Hollins’s NFL career can be found on his social platforms, the 30-year-old athlete largely opts to keep his TikTok focused on his hobbies.
“A lot of my social media stuff all goes to education,” Hollins told Good Morning America. “Obviously, I’m a National Football League player and all that, but I like the education part. I enjoy that, so that’s kind of what I post.”
In previous years, Hollins focused on sharing a series called “Fast Fact Fridays” with his tens of thousands of followers. As of late, though, Hollins has decided to feature a different challenge each month.After experimenting with cold exposure and a social media cleanse, Hollins set a new theme for August: home maintenance.
That’s right, the star wide receiver was not posting videos of his epic plays or on-field celebrations, but instead showing his followers how to do things like flush their pipes and change their HVAC filters.
“Just something new every single day just to get people kind of clued in to what needs to get done around the house, but then also an easy, quick way to [make people realize], ‘Hey, I don’t need to watch a 30 minute video or 45 minute video on how to do these things,’” he said. “They can be done pretty quickly. Usually you don’t have to pay anybody to come out and do them.”
It’s his how-to tips, not his end zone catches, that Hollins would like to become known for online.
“I would rather people think that I’m just some guy who does maintenance rather than be like, ‘Oh, he plays football.’ I want football to be the second thing,” he said. “Like, ‘Oh, he also plays football? Oh, that’s cool. But his maintenance tips are how I got here.’”
In September, Hollins put the maintenance series in the past and instead opted to focus on dance challenges. One dance he featured on TikTok wound up at Highmark Stadium on September 7, as Hollins performed it as his touchdown celebration.
While not everybody is going to be supportive of Hollins’s hobbies, the wide receiver advised people not to “worry about what other people think about you.”
“It’s easier said than done, but also it is the most important thing in life, in my opinion, if you’re trying to achieve something,” he said. “If you’re so worried about what other people think you’ll never get to where you want to get to, because they’re not where you want to get to. That’s why they have an opinion about it.”
“Somebody always has something to say and that’s life,” Hollins added. “But as long as you have good intentions, as long as you’re saying, ‘Hey, this is for a good purpose in the long run,’ then go do it. Don’t let other people sway your drive to be successful.”
The post Truly Why Is a Super Bowl-Winning NFL Player Making Home Improvement TikToks appeared first on VICE.
The post Truly Why Is a Super Bowl-Winning NFL Player Making Home Improvement TikToks appeared first on VICE.
