Field Minister Yates (born April 23, 1987) is an American sportswriter and analyst, who currently serves as an NFL Insider at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

where he provides NFL and fantasy football insight. A graduate of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

, where he was two sport athlete, and a former member of the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

coaching staff, he has worked at ESPN since 2012.

Early life

Yates was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 23, 1987. He attended

Belmont Hill School Belmont Hill School is an independent boys school on a campus in Belmont, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The school enrolls approximately 440 students in grades 7-12, separated into the Middle School (grades 7-9) and the Upper School (grade ...

and was a member of their football team. As a tight end and linebacker, he was named to the All-Independent School League. He later attended

where he graduated with a degree in psychology. At Wesleyan, he was a member of the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

and lacrosse team.

Career

NFL

Yates intended to pursue a career in either coaching or scouting football. His career was heading that way as he interned with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

for four seasons during his high school and college years. With the Patriots, Yates worked in a variety of scouting and coaching duties. From 2009 to 2011, he worked for the

in their scouting and coaching department. During his first year with the Chiefs, Yates worked as an in-house scout and soon after worked as an assistant to Head Coach

Todd Haley Richard Todd Haley (born February 28, 1967) is an American football coach who is the current head coach and general manager for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL). From 1997 to 2006, he had stints as the wide rec ...

. Yates spent games in the coaching box and charted defensive plays.

ESPN

Yates has stated that he ended up in broadcasting and journalism "by complete accident." After leaving the Chiefs organization, he spent time writing a football blog and writing for some football sites. In 2011, he connected with ESPN reporter Mike Reiss, who then served as a mentor to Yates. Yates helped Reiss with his coverage of the Patriots during the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

and the

2012 New England Patriots season The 2012 season was the New England Patriots' 43rd in the National Football League (NFL) and their 53rd overall. The Patriots did not improve upon their 13–3 record from 2011, finishing at 12–4, but did win the AFC East for the fourth seaso ...

. After first covering the Patriots for ESPN Boston, ESPN hired Yates and assigned him to a variety of duties. At ESPN, Yates serves as a football analyst, who covers the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

and provides fantasy football insight. He co-hosts the '' Fantasy Focus'' podcast on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...

. He also hosts ESPN 2's Sunday pregame show ''Fantasy Football Now'', which he was previously a contributor to, and serves as a contributor to ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

'' as the host of ''Monday Tailgate''. He previously served as the host of ESPN Radio's shows ''Operation Football'' and ''Football Friendzy''. Yates is also a regular contributor to ''

NFL Live ''NFL Live'' (stylized as ''NFL Live presented by Autotrader'' for sponsorship reasons) is an American National Football League (NFL) studio show, currently airing Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m ET on sports cable channel ESPN. Formerly k ...

'', ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and of ...

'', '' The Fantasy Show'' on

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and to ESPN's coverage of the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schefter, Adam 1987 births Living people 21st-century American journalists American male journalists ESPN people Wesleyan University alumni National Football League announcers People from Boston Sportswriters from Massachusetts