With the NFL Draft right around the corner, one NFL team is grappling with issues that extend far beyond the college gridiron.
The New England Patriots — not exactly strangers to controversy — have found themselves in the middle of a salacious scandal involving their head coach, and it’s all anyone seems to want to talk about on the eve of the draft.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has been embroiled in scandal after photos surfaced of him being intimate with then-Athletic reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona hotel.
Speculation and hearsay understandably ran rampant, and things only got much more chaotic over the ensuing days as people dug up bizarre clips and quotes from Russini that took on a whole new context over this alleged affair, like this gem from 2021:
THIS IS THE CRAZIEST POST OF ALL TIME BY DIANNA RUSSINI.
She named her newborn son after Mike Vrabel, the man she had an inappropriate relationship with and then posted this just four days after giving birth with her husband.
💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/GvRTb7bg7B
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) April 23, 2026
“Keep looking at my almost 4 day old son Michael while trying to figure out who are the best Michaels to ever play and coach in the NFL?” the 2021 post from Russini read.
Ah, but 2021 was years before this affair began … right? Not quite, if a slew of new incriminating photos are to be believed:
😳 EXCLUSIVE: Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini were all smiles at a casino weeks after his Titans firing back in 2024.
Take a look: https://t.co/lfv3Bi2hzM pic.twitter.com/ubQArJnUXH
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 23, 2026
Dianna Russini and married Mike Vrabel caught kissing at NYC bar in bombshell new photos — taken 6 years before scandal https://t.co/WIPOoGKAWF pic.twitter.com/4j1UpviNuy
— New York Post (@nypost) April 23, 2026
According to the most recent photos of Vrabel and Russini — both of whom are married — from the New York Post’s Page Six, whatever relationship that may exist between Vrabel and Russini has been going on since at least 2020.
Page Six had acquired photos of Russini and Vrabel kissing each other at a New York City bar, proffering the most intimate evidence yet that the two were involved in an extramarital affair.
The fallout from all of this is ongoing.
Russini initially received support from The Athletic, but tendered her resignation just days after the scandal broke. She has effectively gone radio silent while the internet continues to dig up incriminating past posts. In fact, she just recently deleted her entire X account.
Vrabel, by virtue of his role as Patriots head coach, has no such luxury, though he did announce that he would be stepping away from the team during Day 3 of the NFL Draft to seek counseling.
“I’ve had some difficult conversations with people I care about — with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players,” Vrabel told reporters on Tuesday. “Those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me. That starts with me.”
He added: “We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction. There are comments and questions that I’ve answered for the team and with the team. We’ll keep those private.”
Following these latest photos, the Patriots announced that Vrabel would be speaking to reporters — again — right before the NFL Draft:
Mike Vrabel arrives and delivers an opening statement: My actions didn’t meet my standard … my family needs me this weekend. pic.twitter.com/icR9oveW0m
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) April 23, 2026
The Patriots have the 31st pick of the first round of the NFL Draft, which began Thursday.
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