The relationship between New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini did not begin at an Arizona resort this spring. It traces back at least six years, to a late-night encounter at a Manhattan bar where an eyewitness says the two were kissing while Vrabel wore his wedding ring.
Page Six reported exclusively that Vrabel and Russini were spotted together inside Tribeca Tavern in New York City in the early hours of March 11, 2020. At the time, Vrabel was head coach of the Tennessee Titans. Russini was an NFL reporter at ESPN. Both were married.
The new photos reshape the timeline of a scandal that has already cost Russini her job at The Athletic, sent Vrabel into counseling, and forced the Patriots to publicly manage a distraction weeks before the NFL draft.
Page Six cited an eyewitness who said Vrabel and Russini arrived at the bar around midnight and stayed for at least an hour. The witness described the scene in blunt terms.
"They were kissing and they were all over each other. He had a ring on."
The eyewitness told Page Six the two were "very close to each other" and that Russini's legs were "in between [Vrabel's] legs." The witness added more detail about the atmosphere inside the bar.
"They were having a glorious time. They were [giving each other] pecks, a bunch of pecks, constantly. There was nobody in there. Nobody knew who they were. I don't even think the bartenders did."
Just hours before the bar outing, Russini had posted a photo of herself in ESPN's New York studio with host Laura Rutledge, captioning it: "A blonde. A brunette. And a red head walk into a bar..."
When Page Six contacted both Vrabel and Russini about the Tribeca Tavern photos on a Wednesday afternoon, Vrabel dismissed the images outright.
"These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn't deserve any further response."
Russini offered a different defense, saying the photos failed to capture the full picture. She told Page Six the images did not represent "the group of six people who were hanging out during the day," and added that "like most journalists, in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues."
But hours after Page Six made contact, Vrabel told ESPN he would miss Day 3 of the NFL draft to enter counseling. His tone shifted sharply from dismissal to contrition. Vrabel stepped away from his coaching duties and issued a lengthy statement.
"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. In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling, starting this weekend. This is something that I have given a lot of thought to and is something I would advise a player to do if I was counseling them."
He continued: "I have always wanted to lead by example and I believe this is what I have to do to be the best husband, father and coach that I possibly can be. This is not an easy thing for me to admit, but it is one that I know will make me a better person."
The New England Patriots issued a statement Thursday supporting Vrabel's decision. The organization said it respected "the steps he is taking to follow through on that commitment" and expressed confidence in the team's draft preparation.
The Patriots added that Eliot Wolf and the personnel staff were "prepared to execute our draft as planned this weekend," even with Vrabel absent from the facility on Saturday.
As AP News reported, the NFL said it is not investigating Vrabel's behavior. A Patriots spokesman said there are no plans for further team comment on the matter. That decision leaves the league and the franchise content to treat the situation as a personal issue rather than a professional one, even though one of the two people involved was a reporter who covered the league for a living.
The damage to Russini's career moved faster. She resigned from The Athletic on April 14, before her contract's June 30 expiration. Page Six obtained her resignation letter, in which Russini framed her departure as a refusal to participate in a media cycle she considered unfair.
"I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published."
She acknowledged that The Athletic had initially supported her. But Russini said the situation spiraled beyond what she could accept.
"This media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process the Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept."
Russini, 43, wrote that she chose to leave "not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career." The Athletic's internal investigation remains ongoing.
The Tribeca Tavern photos surfaced after Page Six had already published images from a more recent encounter. On April 7, Page Six released photos of Vrabel, 50, and Russini holding hands and briefly dancing together at Ambiente, a resort in Sedona, Arizona. Earlier photos showed them enjoying breakfast on the hotel restaurant patio on the morning of March 28, hanging out at the pool for about an hour, and lounging side by side in a hot tub.
Page Six also reported the pair were spotted on a private rooftop of one of the hotel's bungalows, an area accessible only from the two-person bungalows, which cost up to $2,160 a night.
Both Vrabel and Russini said friends accompanied them. A source close to Russini claimed she was at the Sedona hotel with two female friends for a hiking trip. A friend of Vrabel told Page Six the coach and pals drove to Sedona for the day and drove back to their own hotel afterward. The overlap between these accounts and the photographic record has not been fully reconciled.
Vrabel is married to his wife Jen. Russini married Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt roughly six months after the 2020 bar encounter. Each has two children with their respective partner.
Earlier this week, Vrabel made an unscheduled appearance at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, to address the matter publicly for the first time. Breitbart reported that Vrabel broke his silence two weeks after the initial Sedona photos were published.
He thanked reporters for their patience and said he had spoken candidly with his players as the off-season program began.
"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. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction."
Vrabel described "some difficult conversations with people" he cares about, including his family, the organization, coaches, and players, and called those discussions "positive" and productive. He declined to share further details, saying the team would keep those conversations private.
The contrast between Vrabel's initial response and his later statements is hard to miss. When Page Six first asked about the Tribeca Tavern photos, he called any suggestion of impropriety "laughable." Hours later, he announced he was entering counseling and stepping away from draft duties. Within days, he stood at a podium admitting he had caused a distraction and had to make better decisions.
The NFL's draft-week distractions come in many forms. This one raises questions that go beyond football. A reporter covering the league was in a close personal relationship with a head coach she may have reported on. The Athletic launched an investigation. Russini says she stands behind every story she published. But the public has no way to evaluate that claim while the review remains incomplete and the reporter has already walked out the door.
Did Russini ever report on the Titans or on Vrabel during the period their relationship appears to have been active? Did ESPN know about the 2020 encounter? What will The Athletic's investigation ultimately conclude now that its subject has resigned? These are not tabloid curiosities. They go to the integrity of NFL journalism.
Personal scandals involving public figures are nothing new in Washington or in sports. The pattern is familiar: explosive personal allegations surface, institutions issue carefully worded statements of support, and the principals insist the real problem is the coverage, not the conduct.
Vrabel called the photos "laughable" right up until the moment he checked himself into counseling. Russini said the coverage was "unmoored" from the facts, then quit her job before anyone could finish reviewing those facts. The NFL shrugged. The Patriots said they were confident. And the public is left to square eyewitness accounts of kissing at a midnight bar with official claims of a "completely innocent interaction."
When the people paid to hold institutions accountable cannot keep their own relationships transparent, the problem is not the camera that caught them. It is the standard they failed to meet.
