Field Yates’s first experience as part of the broad NFL landscape came as a coaching and scouting intern with the Patriots during summers while a student at Wesleyan.
“I think the players probably thought I was this little runt running around the facility, but the experience was priceless,” he said. “That was my Rosetta Stone for football knowledge.”
So it’s fitting that a certain Bill Belichick-era ethos has shaded the Weston native’s time at ESPN, where he has worked since 2012: Versatility makes you more valuable to the team.
Yates has been a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-pretty-much-all when it comes to the network’s NFL coverage, particularly in recent years.