New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel will dodge a press conference on Monday about his team’s NFL Draft preparations after denying having an affair with reporter Dianna Russini.
Russini, who works for the New York Times-owned Athletic, is being reinvestigated by her employers after pictures emerged of the pair holding hands and embracing at an adults-only resort in Arizona.
Russini and Vrabel, who are both married, denied suggestions of anything inappropriate, with Russini backed at the time by The Athletic’s executive editor, Steven Ginsberg.
But on Friday, it emerged that ‘additional concerns’ are being reviewed and that Russini will not be reporting while the investigation takes place.
In the meantime for Vrabel, plans for the draft are ongoing but he will not be facing media beforehand like he did last year. Instead, according to ESPN, Eliot Wolf will speak on behalf of the Patriots organization on Monday afternoon.
Last Tuesday, Page Six published exclusive photos showing the 50-year-old coach and 43-year-old NFL insider hugging, lounging poolside and laughing together at the $2,500-per night getaway in Sedona, Arizona.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini have denied an affair
The pair were pictured together holding hands at an adults-only resort in Arizona
The two have known each other for years. Russini previously covered Vrabel when he was coaching in Tennessee and she was serving as ESPN’s Titans beat reporter.
When the pictures first emerged, Russini insisted that they were at the resort with other friends who did not feature in the pictures.
‘The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day,’ Russini told FOS through The Athletic. ‘Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.’
Interestingly, The Athletic issued its own denial after the publication, calling the photos ‘misleading’ and lacking ‘essential context,’ while defending Russini’s professionalism.
In his own statement at the time to the Post, Vrabel called the story ‘laughable.’
Per Page Six, Vrabel was at a scouting event at Arizona State University in Tempe on Friday before driving 125 miles to the adults-only hotel – which markets itself as a romantic getaway.
A source close to Russini told Page Six that she was at the hotel ‘during a hiking trip with two female pals.’
As for Vrabel, the draft is a key part of his planning for the 2026 season with the Patriots which, until now, has been an overwhelming success.
Owner Robert Kraft and his wife Dana Blumberg pose for a photograph with Mike Vrabel and his wife Jen Vrabel as Vrabel is announced as head coach of the New England Patriots
Dianna Russini married fast food executive Kevin Goldschmidt in 2020 during the pandemic
He led the team to the Super Bowl in his first season at the helm, before they lost in San Francisco to the Seattle Seahawks back in February.
The draft is a vital part of his plans to take the team on from there – the Patriots have the 31st pick in the first round, which is held in Pittsburgh on Thursday, April 23.
Vrabel is married to his wife, Jen, whom he met while attending Ohio State. Meanwhile, Russini married her husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt, in 2020.
Goldschmidt is frequently referenced by Russini on podcasts, which are now being put under the microscope by football fans and gossip hounds.
Dianna Russini seen interviewing Mike Vrabel last year after he got the Patriots job
The latest clip to be unearthed online comes from a 2021 episode of ESPN’s Get Up, when Russini discussed her husband in unflattering terms.
‘I’m married to someone average,’ she said at the time. ‘I don’t post a lot about him. If I was married to someone beautiful, I’d over-post too.’
Her ESPN co-hosts later gave Russini a chance to correct herself, to which she explained: ‘We’re average together.’
In another clip, Russini joked about having cold feet the night before her wedding while doing a phone interview with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who was once voted the NFL’s ‘sexiest’ player.
‘The night before my wedding, I’m making calls and I had a phone interview set up with Jimmy Garoppolo,’ Russini told the Dan Le Batard show. ‘Jimmy was great. He made a funny joke, like: “Hey, night before your wedding, you sure you want to do this?”
‘I’m thinking, of all the people in my life that I would talk to the night before my wedding, the one guy… my mom wanted me to marry was Jimmy Garoppolo,’ she laughed.