On Tuesday, two players were set to speak with the media after the start of the voluntary offseason program; however, it was announced shortly before that, instead, it would be head coach Mike Vrabel addressing reporters.
This is the first time he publicly addressed the situation involving Dianna Russini after the two were photographed together at a hotel in Arizona during the NFLâs annual league meeting. Russini has since spoken out and has also resigned from her position with The Athletic amid an investigation into the incident.
But until Tuesday, Vrabel had remained quiet.
Here’s What Mike Vrabel Said
“Thank you for your patience that you’ve shown in a personal and private matter for me and obviously everybody involved. I know that that’s not easy for you and I respect that and appreciate your efforts in doing so,” he began.
“I understand I could have addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly as we began our offseason program, which everyone is excited to be a part of. Stacey had mentioned the players’ availability and it was never my intention to have them speak with you or address you before I did, so I asked him to come today and talk with you.
“I also don’t want to take away from the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us, our organization, and the excitement and the joy that those players are going to have that we bring onto our football team, they are starting an amazing journey. One that should be celebrated as we welcome them on to our team.
“With that being said, I’ve had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players. Those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field you have to make good decision. That includes me. That starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively effect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction. And those are comments and questions that I’ve answered with the team and we’ll keep those private, to ourselves.
“I care deeply about this football team and I’m excited to coach them. I also know that I’m going to attack each day with humility and focus and what I can promise you is, my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That’s what I know and I’m excited about that. But I wanted to just address this and thank you for your patience in dealing with a private and personal matter.”
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