Breakdowns
2/11/22
3 min read
The Friday Five: Doug Kyed
Doug Kyed is an NFL Reporter for Pro Football Focus. He previously worked for nearly nine years with New England Sports Network as a New England Patriots beat writer after being promoted from his Assistant Editor position.
We caught up with Doug for this week's Friday Five...
Who is your biggest mentor?
Outside of the industry, it would have to be my parents. My passion for sports, and especially football, comes from my father, and no one has given me more valuable guidance than my mother.
Within the industry, Justin Hathaway, VP of content at NBC Sports Bay Area & CA, whom I worked with at NESN. He pushed me to network and become a much better reporter. Also, Nick Underhill, who owns NewOrleans.Football. I still have no idea why he showed me so many tricks of the trade when I started on the Patriots beat in 2013, but if I need work advice, I’ll go to Justin and Nick.
When did you know you wanted to be a sports reporter?
It’s been my calling since I was a kid when I’d average out statistics on the back of football cards to determine which player was best.
I knew I could be a sports reporter when I took a sports journalism class at Emerson College with John Rooke as my professor. John gave us valuable hands-on experience.
What has been your most interesting interview and why?
One that stands out is Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown in 2018. He had been pretty short with the media since arriving that offseason. He answered questions in one media scrum while eating a bag of potato chips. But I caught him at the right time late in the year, and I think he wanted to get a lot off his chest about his weight, his play, his trade from the San Francisco 49ers and his impending free agency. He wound up winning a Super Bowl and signing a massive contract with the Raiders.
His story is well-told, but I always enjoyed talking to Julian Edelman, as well.
What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
I’d love to tell my younger self to be a better student, get involved in more extracurriculars in college and overall be better prepared for a job out of college. But things worked out pretty well with the path I took, and I’d be afraid to change a thing.
If you could invite any three people in history to dinner, who would they be and why?
I’ve never had a great answer to this question, but I think it would be fascinating to sit down with Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick to talk about all of the advancements in football over the years.
