New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel will reportedly skip his team’s pre-draft press conference amid a scandal that stemmed from photos showing him on vacation with the Athletic NFL insider Dianna Russini, ESPN Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss reported on Sunday (April 12).
Reiss confirmed that Patriots Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf “will hold the team’s predraft news conference” on Monday (April 13), which will be the first official media event at New Balance Athletic Center, the team’s new facility.
“Vrabel — 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 — isn’t expected to address reporters until the draft,” Reiss wrote.
Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, were seen in viral photos shared by Page Six showing them together at a luxury hotel pool sparking speculation of a potential affair, while past numerous clips of her giving questionable comments on her marriage were unearthed since. The coach and the reporter both issued statements to Page Six downplaying the photos, with Vrabel calling them “completely innocent” and Russini claiming they were in a “group of six people who were hanging out during the day.”
Vrabel and Russini, both of whom are married with children, were seen at the Ambiente in Sedona, Arizona, a resort set along the Brins Mesa mountain range, in photos taken two weekends ago, which were shared by Page Six on Tuesday. A spy for Page Six told the outlet that the two had breakfast on the patio of the hotel’s restaurant at around 10:30 a.m. on March 28 prior to the photos at the pool and side-by-side in a hot tub about an hour later.
The spy said Vrabel and Russini were again seen on the private rooftop only accessible from two-person bungalows that cost $2,160 per night. The photos show the two hugging during a sunset, as well as interlocking fingers as they stood face-to-face, with the spy claiming they were briefly dancing together.
Russini had previously covered the Tennessee Titans for ESPN during Vrabel’s head coaching tenure with the franchise.
“They went from being [a team] nobody thought about to Mike got them playing really well,” Russini said of the 2018 Titans on the Patriots Unfiltered podcast in February. “And then, of course, they went to the AFC championship game” in 2020.
Russini had previously faced controversy when then-Washington Commanders general manager Scot McCloughan‘s wife accused them of having an affair, claiming Russini, then working as the team’s beat writer, was her husband’s “new side chick” when she broke a story of Kirk Cousins replacing Robert Griffin III as the starting quarterback before later issuing an apology.
“I deeply apologize for the disparaging remarks about an ESPN reporter on my personal Twitter account. The comment was unfounded and inappropriate, and I have the utmost respect for both the reporter and ESPN,” Jessica McCloughan wrote at the time in reference to Russini. “I regret that my actions have brought undeserved negative attention to the Redskins organization and its leadership. My comments in no way reflect the opinions or attitudes of the organization and I regret that my behavior has in any way negatively impacted the team and its loyal fan base.”
Vrabel led the Patriots, his former team for the majority of his NFL playing career as a linebacker, to an AFC championship in his first season as head coach in 2025, and has a 68-48 overall record combined with his six-year tenure with the Titans.
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