The New England Patriots made a draft-day decision on Mike Vrabel just hours after new photos of the head coach began circulating online.
Vrabel is scheduled to address the media tonight, but only if New England makes a pick in the first round. If the Patriots trade out of that pick, the head coach goes dark until May 27, according to MassLive Patriots reporter Mark Daniels. That contingency landed hours after the New York Post Page Six published a second wave of photographs showing Vrabel and former The Athletic reporter Dianna Russini together. This time the photos allegedly came from 2020, six years before the Arizona resort photos that ignited the current controversy.
The timing on one of the most scrutinized days of the NFL calendar only intensified questions about how much the situation influenced New England’s approach.
New Dianna Russini Photos Arrive on Patriots Draft Day
The newly surfaced images show Vrabel and Russini seated close together at a Tribeca Tavern in New York City during the early hours of March 11, 2020. At the time, Vrabel was head coach of the Tennessee Titans and married. Russini was working for ESPN and, according to Yahoo Sports‘ Andy Backstrom, roughly six months away from her own engagement.
An eyewitness told Page Six that Vrabel and Russini were “kissing and they were all over each other” and exchanging “a bunch of pecks constantly” throughout the evening. NBC Sports‘ Mike Florio noted the date carries its own odd significance. March 11, 2020, was the same day the World Health Organization declared a new viral disease known as COVID-19 to be a pandemic.
Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14 as the New York Times-owned sports outlet said it was investigating her situation. She posted her resignation letter on X, writing that the “media frenzy” had been “hurtling forward without regard for the review process” and that she refused to let the episode define her career.
Mike Vrabel’s Patriots Future Hangs Over NFL Draft Night
The draft-day consequences are already in motion. With Vrabel stepping away from the team this weekend to begin counseling, as confirmed in a statement quoted by ESPN, vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf takes over New England’s draft room for Day 3 on Saturday, when the Patriots hold eight picks.
“As I said the other day, I promised my family, this organization and this team that I was going to give them the best version of me that I can possibly give them,” Vrabel said in his statement. “In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling, starting this weekend.”
He added that admitting the need for help was “not an easy thing for me to admit,” but framed it as necessary to become “the best husband, father and coach” he could be.
The deeper question hanging over draft night is institutional. Nick Cattles, host of the Locked On Patriots podcast, framed the issue, saying that Vrabel’s problem is not whether or not he had an extramarital affair, but what the Super Bowl coach told Patriots ownership, coaching staff and players when the story first broke.
“If he wasn’t truthful with those players in that room,” Cattles said in an online video, “then why would they believe in anything he said moving forward, football or otherwise?”
The NFL confirmed it is not investigating Vrabel under the league’s personal conduct policy. But with a second round of photos public and the head coach away from Foxborough on one of the most consequential weekends of New England’s rebuild, the Patriots are navigating a suddenly difficult draft night.
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