{"id":874021,"date":"2026-04-25T02:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874021\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T02:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:30:47","slug":"mike-vrabel-says-he-takes-accountability-for-distraction-to-new-england-patriots-over-photos-chicago-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874021\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Vrabel says he takes \u2018accountability\u2019 for distraction to New England Patriots over photos \u2013 Chicago Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2014 Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said he is taking accountability for actions that have created a distraction for New England without addressing specifics about photos published recently of him with longtime NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort.<\/p>\n

Vrabel spoke for just over seven minutes prior to the start of Thursday\u2019s NFL draft. He vowed to prioritize his family by beginning counseling this weekend<\/a> and stepping away from the team for the draft\u2019s final day Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that there are questions. I take accountability for my actions, and the actions that caused a distraction to the people that I care most about \u2014 my family, this football team, the organization and our fans,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cMy previous actions don\u2019t meet the standard that I hold myself to. They don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel breaks silence on \u2018personal and private matter\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Vrabel said at a news conference earlier this week that he\u2019s had \u201cdifficult conversations with people I care about,\u201d including his family, his coaching staff, team officials and players following the publication of the photos by the New York Post.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, he called his family and the Patriots<\/a> the most important things in his life and said he was dedicated to taking steps to giving them \u201cthe best version of me.\u201d He said he is committed to that process for \u201chowever long it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d Vrabel said.<\/p>\n

Asked about the timing of stepping away from the team on Saturday, Vrabel said it was solely family-related.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you prioritize your family first, and your job, that\u2019s what\u2019s required. And that\u2019s what was necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vrabel said he was unsure if this would be the last time he planned to step away from the team.<\/p>\n

The photos of Vrabel and Russini were taken in Sedona, Arizona, before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the Post. The NFL has said it is not investigating Vrabel\u2019s behavior. Vrabel and Russini are both married. Russini resigned from The Athletic<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated in an interview with ESPN that the league is not looking into the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a personal conduct policy as we know of today,\u201d Goodell said Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s a personal matter and we\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodell added, \u201cI think the teams handle these matters when they are personal matters. They have a lot more information that can benefit people involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots said in a statement earlier in the day that they support Vrabel stepping away from the team on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike has been open with us about his commitment to being the best version of himself for his family, this team and our fans, and we respect the steps he is taking to follow through on that commitment,\u201d the statement said in part. \u201cWe are confident in the leadership and communication Mike has established with our personnel staff throughout this pre-draft process. While he will not be present at the facility on Saturday, we know the draft evaluations are complete and Eliot Wolf and his personnel staff are prepared to execute our draft as planned this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vrabel declared his intension to sit out the final day of the draft in a late-night statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Patriots entered the draft holding 11 picks. That included the Super Bowl runner-up\u2019s one scheduled pick (No. 31) in Thursday\u2019s first round. They traded that pick and one in the fourth round to Buffalo to move up and take Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu at No. 28. They have one pick each in rounds 2 and 3 on Friday.<\/p>\n

But the bulk of their selections will be Saturday when Vrabel won\u2019t be in the draft room. That\u2019s when they are scheduled to select twice in the fourth round, once in the fifth, four times in the sixth and once in the seventh round.<\/p>\n

Vrabel was still present in the Patriots team facility Thursday after addressing reporters. Prior to meeting with them, he spoke briefly with season ticket holders at a draft night party. He also was spotted briefly sitting in the middle seat in the team draft room as they celebrated selecting Lomu.<\/p>\n

Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and fellow personnel vice president Ryan Cowden will run the draft room with Vrabel away.<\/p>\n

Wolf expressed confidence that remaining members of front office will be able to manage Day 3 with Vrabel away. Wolf will have final say on picks during Vrabel\u2019s absence. Vrabel will still be in communication with the team via Zoom at times on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot too worried about that as far just as the process we have in place. The people that we have in place,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be different without his presence there. But we feel really good about the people that we have in place to make up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2014 Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said he is taking accountability for actions that have created a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[6164,118409,118410,7,838,118407,118408,1167,249,2326,2094,6,15,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-874021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-dianna-russini","9":"tag-dianna-russini-athletic","10":"tag-dianna-russini-photos","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-mike-vrabel","13":"tag-mike-vrabel-counseling","14":"tag-mike-vrabel-photos","15":"tag-new-england","16":"tag-new-england-patriots","17":"tag-newengland","18":"tag-newenglandpatriots","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-nfl-draft","21":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116463002162618389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874021","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=874021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}