If you were hoping to hear from New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel as he sets the record straight about the Dianna Russini controversy, well, you must have been born yesterday.<\/p>\n
The Patriots will hold their pre-draft press conference on Monday at 2:00 p.m. ET. While Vrabel was front and center at that presser last season<\/a>, he\u2019s apparently going to be a no-show this year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s according to\u00a0Mike Reiss of ESPN, who is reporting<\/a> that V.P. of player personnel Eliot Wolf will conduct the team\u2019s press conference instead.<\/p>\n \u201cVrabel \u2014 who has been in the news this week, as the Athletic is reinvestigating the coverage of NFL reporter Dianna Russini and the nature of her relationship with him, sources familiar with the matter told ESPN \u2014 isn\u2019t expected to address reporters until the draft,\u201d wrote Reiss, via PFT<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly not unheard of for someone other than the head coach to take questions for a pre-draft discussion. However, given the heightened interest in his recent encounter with The Athletic\u2019s NFL reporter at a resort in Arizona, many want to hear what he has to say.<\/p>\n Of the photos that showed Vrabel and Russini holding hands, hugging, and lounging in a hot tub, the Patriots coach told Page Six that they<\/a> \u201cshow a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn\u2019t deserve any further response.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately for him, that time has passed, and there will indeed be a desire for further responses, whether he wants to provide them or not. Not only are there many questions about the photos, but also about his and Russini\u2019s working relationship<\/a> going back years.<\/p>\n