{"id":865135,"date":"2026-04-12T22:52:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865135\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:52:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:52:48","slug":"mike-vrabel-facing-backlash-for-cowardly-decision-amid-dianna-russini-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865135\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Vrabel Facing Backlash for ‘Cowardly’ Decision Amid Dianna Russini Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"New\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel<\/p>\n

New England Patriots<\/a> head coach Mike Vrabel has never been one to shy away from an awkward moment with reporters during press conferences.<\/p>\n

He created many such instances during his tenure as head coach of the Tennessee Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet, it seems Vrabel, who\u2019s married to wife Jen Vrabel, doesn\u2019t want to face the media and engage in what\u2019s sure to be yet another awkward moment in answering questions about his current affair scandal involving The Athletic NFL<\/a> insider Dianna Russini, who\u2019s married to husband Kevin Goldschmidt.<\/p>\n

Vrabel Dodging the Media Amid Russini Scandal\"New<\/p>\n

GettyNew England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and his wife Jen with owner Robert Kraft<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Mike Reiss reported on Sunday that Vrabel won\u2019t speak to reporters during the team\u2019s pre-draft press conference on Monday, which is typically part of the head coach\u2019s duties.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot] Wolf will hold the team\u2019s pre-draft news conference Monday (2 p.m. ET), which be the first official media event at the team\u2019s new facility \u2014 the New Balance Athletic Center,\u201d Reiss reported<\/a>.<\/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<\/p>\n

Fans Slam Vrabel for Coward\u2019s Behavior\"Mike<\/p>\n

GettyNew England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel won\u2019t speak to the media amid his alleged affair with The Athletic\u2019s Dianna Russini<\/p>\n

One of Vrabel\u2019s most notable sayings is \u201cdon\u2019t do dumb s\u2014 to hurt the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bedrock of his coaching philosophy is built on that credo. Yet, it\u2019s Vrabel who finds himself not taking his own advice after being recently publicly photographed cozying up to Russini at an adults-only hotel in Arizona.<\/p>\n

Fans flooded social media on Sunday after news that Vrabel wouldn\u2019t be speaking with reporters, raking him over the coals for not taking accountability and facing the music about his alleged affair.<\/p>\n

\u201cScared to answer questions about something that didn\u2019t happen huh? \ud83d\ude02,\u201d one fan wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreaches accountability until applies to himself. Joke of a thing for a head coach to do,\u201d another replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo she\u2019s getting all the heat<\/a> and he can disappear \ud83e\udd26\ud83c\udffc\u200d\u2640\ufe0f,\u201d a third pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a [expletive] move to not face the music while your affair partner is having her career ruined,\u201d one user exclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr accountability doesn\u2019t want to talk about his mistakes,\u201d remarked another user.<\/p>\n

\u201cVrabel is going to have to face this sooner or later. Kind of cowardly for a highly paid head coach to miss draft-related activities,\u201d one fan proclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201cLol Mr. Family Values is ducking the media now. What a little [expletive],\u201d another fan scoffed.<\/p>\n

Vrabel and Russini Deny Affair Rumors\"NFL<\/p>\n

GettyDianna Russini attends the 2019 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Both parties issued statements<\/a> shortly after the story broke downplaying anything nefarious going on, claiming the photos were not representative of the actual situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,\u201d Vrabel told the NY Post. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t deserve any further response.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Russini: \u201cThe photos don\u2019t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russini has since been benched by The Athletic and told not to report on anything while the company conducts an investigation into the situation. Vrabel has continued his coaching duties as expected.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMichael Gallagher<\/a> Michael Gallagher is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has more than a decade of experience working for both local and national news outlets covering the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, college football, and MMA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports, The Hockey News, the Nashville Scene, SB Nation, and Yardbarker. More about Michael Gallagher<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Patriots\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has never been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[7,6,526,394,2411,527],"class_list":{"0":"post-865135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-tennessee","11":"tag-tennessee-titans","12":"tag-tennesseetitans","13":"tag-titans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116394198315738379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}