{"id":874153,"date":"2026-04-25T07:43:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874153\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T07:43:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:43:19","slug":"mike-vrabel-patriots-back-head-coach-after-new-york-post-publishes-more-photos-of-him-with-dianna-russini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/874153\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Vrabel: Patriots back head coach after New York Post publishes more photos of him with Dianna Russini"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The New England Patriots are backing head coach Mike Vrabel after a second report in the New York Post raised questions about the reigning coach of the year\u2019s relationship with a former reporter from The Athletic.\n <\/p>\n

\n Vrabel has been under the microscope in recent weeks after the Post published photos of him and Dianna Russini at a resort in Arizona earlier this year. On Thursday, just hours before the NFL Draft gets underway, the Post published another story showing photos of Vrabel and Russini at a New York City bar in March 2020.<\/a> The outlet described the two as sitting closely to each other and \u201cat one point appearing to share a kiss.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n When asked for comment on this latest story, the Patriots said they support Vrabel\u2019s decision to seek counseling, as first reported by ESPN on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe New England Patriots fully support Mike Vrabel\u2019s decision to prioritize his family first, as well as his own well-being. Mike 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 read.\n <\/p>\n

\n \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\n <\/p>\n

\n On April 7, the Post shared photos<\/a> showing Russini and Vrabel holding hands, embracing and spending time in a pool together at a boutique resort in Sedona, Arizona. The photos were taken on March 28, according to the publication, which noted that both adults are married.\n <\/p>\n

\n Russini resigned from The Athletic last week<\/a>, a week after the star NFL reporter was sidelined amid an internal investigation into her relationship with Vrabel.\n <\/p>\n

\n In her resignation letter from The Athletic, Russini blamed \u201ccommentators in various media\u201d for engaging in \u201cself-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept,\u201d she added, asserting that her journalistic record \u201cspeaks for itself.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Vrabel told the Post that the photos showed \u201ca completely innocent interaction\u201d and said \u201cany suggestion otherwise is laughable.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n However, earlier this week, Vrabel said<\/a> he has had \u201cdifficult conversations with people I care about\u201d after the release of the photos and told ESPN that he would be seeking counseling starting this weekend, causing him to miss the third day of the NFL draft.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 50-year-old Vrabel reiterated on Thursday that it was a personal matter but cleared up the need for counseling.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI understand there are questions but I take accountability for my actions and the actions that caused a distraction to the people that I care most about \u2013 my family, this football team, the organization, and our fans,\u201d Vrabel told reporters.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy previous actions don\u2019t meet the standard that I hold myself to. They don\u2019t, and what I believe is best for the two most important things in my life \u2013 my family and this football team \u2013 is for us to take the necessary steps to work together and to give them what I told them I\u2019d give them, which is the best version of me, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do. And that\u2019s going to start and that has started, that\u2019ll continue this weekend and it\u2019ll continue for however long it takes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Vrabel\u2019s press conference came just under an hour before the first round of the draft got underway in Pittsburgh. He was originally scheduled to speak after the completion of the round Thursday.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI ask that somehow you can allow those players that we bring on to this football team, allow them the excitement and joy of recognizing a dream and starting a journey,\u201d Vrabel added.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI hope that you can do that. And again, I\u2019m focused on this team moving forward. And out of respect to my family, I won\u2019t have any more comments or answers to touch on.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Amid the fallout from the report, the Times opened an investigation into the matter, including a review of Russini\u2019s past coverage, and benched her from reporting for the time being, according to a person familiar with the matter.\n <\/p>\n

\n Russini was at ESPN at the time of the March 2020 photos of her and Vrabel in New York, and that network declined to comment when asked by CNN Sports.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to Russini\u2019s agent for comment on the latest photos.\n <\/p>\n

\n NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked by ESPN about the situation Thursday, to which the 67-year-old responded that it did not fall under the league\u2019s personal conduct policy and referred to it as a personal matter.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots are backing head coach Mike Vrabel after a second report in the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-874153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116464229017375959","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874153","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=874153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}