NFL REPORTER DIANNA Russini was at home in Bergen County on Easter Sunday when a reporter from the New York Post approached the house. The outlet, the reporter told her, had photographs of Russini, a top newsbreaker at The Athletic, with Mike Vrabel, the head coach of the New England Patriots, together in Arizona.
Russini told the Post reporter that she and Vrabel recently had been in Arizona for NFL league meetings, according to two people briefed on the interaction.
The photos, though, threatened to become a public relations disaster. They were taken at a luxury resort away from the league meetings and appeared to show Russini embracing and holding hands with the Patriots coach. Later that Sunday, having learned the nature of the photos, she was on the phone with a crisis communications expert strategizing how to respond to the story, according to a person with knowledge of the call.
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Two days later, on Tuesday evening, the Post published Oli Coleman’s report with the headline, “New England Patriots’ Mike Vrabel and top NY Times NFL reporter Dianna Russini hold hands and hug at luxury hotel.” The outlet published several photos of Russini and Vrabel at the Sedona resort. In one picture, their fingers are interlocked. In another they are hugging. Others showed them together at the hotel’s pool.
In the days leading up to and following the Post’s report, Russini, Vrabel and executives from The Athletic, which is owned by the New York Times, scrambled to respond to an explosive story that raised questions about the relationship between one of the most high-profile reporters in the NFL and the coach of a flagship NFL franchise, according to interviews with a dozen people with knowledge of how the last week transpired, who spoke to ESPN on the condition of anonymity.
In addition to consulting with a crisis communicator, Russini appealed directly to the Times Company chief executive officer Meredith Kopit Levien to plead her case, according to five people with knowledge of the conversation. She also coordinated with Vrabel about how to respond to the Post, said a person with knowledge of the communication. Russini and Vrabel, who are both married to other people, told the Post that the photos didn’t accurately reflect their interaction. The Athletic initially defended Russini publicly but subsequently faced internal outrage from employees, several Times and Athletic staffers told ESPN.
Russini resigned from The Athletic Tuesday amid an internal investigation into the nature of her relationship with Vrabel, her NFL coverage and whether she had lied to the company about the meeting with Vrabel.
Vrabel, the reigning AP NFL Coach of the Year, continues to coach the Patriots and is preparing for next week’s NFL draft. He did not respond to a request for comment. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league is not reviewing Vrabel’s behavior as part of the league’s personal conduct policy, which states players, coaches and executives are required to avoid “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League.”
A spokesman for the Patriots did not respond to a question about whether it would review Vrabel’s relationship with Russini.
Russini told ESPN she did not want to comment for this story, and she did not reply to a detailed list of questions. Her agent, Matt Olson, referred ESPN to her resignation letter, which she wrote to Athletic executive editor Steven Ginsberg and posted on social media this week: “I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published. … Commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.
“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. Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to step aside now … . I do so 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.”
Ginsberg, in a note Tuesday to Athletic staff that was obtained by ESPN, wrote: “When this situation was brought to our attention, there were clear concerns, but we received a detailed explanation and it was our instinct to support and defend a colleague while we continued to review the matter. As additional information emerged, new questions were raised that became part of our investigation.”
A spokesperson for The Athletic and The New York Times confirmed Russini had resigned but declined further comment.
THE AMBIENTE SEDONA is an adults-only hotel nestled in Arizona’s red rocks, a two-hour drive north from Phoenix, where the NFL held its annual league meetings March 29 to April 1. The gatherings, at which team owners and head coaches convene to discuss rules and other league business, are well-covered by many NFL reporters. The New York Post reported that Russini and Vrabel were photographed at the hotel on March 28.
According to Front Office Sports, an anonymous tipster shopped the photos to TMZ, but they were ultimately published by the Post. A spokesperson for the Post declined to comment on how the outlet acquired the photographs. According to multiple people familiar with internal deliberations at the Post, the outlet was open to changing the tone of the story or possibly not running it if Russini and Vrabel could provide compelling evidence to back up their statements that they had each been on a trip with friends.
In the days before the story ran, Russini consulted advisers, including a veteran in crisis communications. Russini and Vrabel also communicated about how to respond to the Post, according to a person with knowledge of those discussions.
Executives at The Athletic learned about the impending story from Russini Tuesday afternoon, according to three people with knowledge of the timeline. Internally, Russini argued the photos were a sexist attack on a female reporter in a male-dominated field, the people said. She made the argument to her bosses at The Athletic and called Levien and said she had been traveling with friends, the people said. The Post, though, wanted to turn it into a scandal, she told people internally, according to the three people. Russini also offered to have her bosses speak to Vrabel, which the company declined, according to two people familiar with the offer.
Athletic executives held a series of meetings Tuesday afternoon. The group, led by Ginsberg, believed Russini’s version of events and decided to back her publicly, according to two people familiar with the internal deliberations. Ginsberg gave a statement to the Post: “These photos are misleading and lack essential context. These were public interactions in front of many people. Dianna is a premier journalist covering the NFL and we’re proud to have her at The Athletic.”
Russini, who has often reported on Vrabel over the years, went on the record to rebut the story, and so did Vrabel. Russini told the Post that, while the photos only showed her and Vrabel, the two were among a group of people hanging out at the hotel.
“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel said in his statement to the Post. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
RUSSINI, 43, WAS one of the most visible reporters at The Athletic, which the Times acquired for $550 million in 2022. Russini was a prized hire by Ginsberg in 2023 when she jumped from ESPN to The Athletic and became one of the highest-paid reporters at the Times company, according to people familiar with the matter.
She launched a podcast, “Scoop City,” cultivated a large following across social media and appeared across national media as a prominent NFL newsbreaker. Colleagues described her to ESPN as critical to the outlet’s coverage of the league.
Russini had become a face of not just The Athletic but of the Times Company, too. Last year, Russini traveled to Cannes along with Times journalists Michael Barbaro, host of The Daily, and business reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, to help woo advertisers. From the Super Bowl earlier this year, Russini posted a selfie to Instagram of her and Levien together.
“A Super Bowl to remember,” Russini wrote. “Always so grateful to cover the best game in the world.”
But inside The Athletic last week, the Post report raised questions because it included an eyewitness account of Russini and Vrabel at the resort alone, which contradicted her version of events, according to the three people with knowledge of the timeline.
While The Athletic had been quick to rush to her defense ahead of the story, now executives asked for more evidence from Russini such as text messages about an airport pickup, screenshots of planning the trip or photos from a hike, the three people said. They said Russini never provided sufficient evidence. On Friday, April 10, ESPN reported that The Athletic had launched an investigation into her NFL coverage and the nature of her relationship with Vrabel, and a person familiar with the matter told ESPN that she would not be reporting during that process.
The New York Times’s ethics policy on avoiding conflicts states: “Relationships with sources require sound judgment to prevent the fact or appearance of partiality… It is essential we preserve a detachment, free of any whiff of bias.”
Close relationships with people who figure in a reporter’s coverage must be disclosed to the standards editor, the policy adds.
VRABEL IS NOT scheduled to address the media until the NFL Draft next week. It’s unclear whether he’ll address players about the photos. Coaches have at times apologized to their teams amid personal controversy. In 2021, then-Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer said he apologized to his team, his family, and owner Shad Khan after a viral video surfaced that showed a young woman dancing close to his lap at his restaurant.
Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden publicly apologized in 2021 after a Wall Street Journal report showed he used a racist comment in an email 10 years earlier. According to ESPN reporting at the time, Gruden alerted players beforehand that the Journal story was set to publish. He resigned days later.
Vrabel, a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, won three Super Bowls as a linebacker for the team and was hired as its head coach last season. Vrabel led the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first year, a season after the team struggled to a 4-13 record. He told reporters last year that accountability was key to the turnaround.
“I think that that’s what we’ve always tried to build – the ability to have and hold people accountable, hold each other accountable,” Vrabel said last November. “Not in a negative way but in a positive way to help themselves and to help the team.”
Meanwhile, The Athletic’s review of Russini’s work will continue, Ginsberg wrote in his note to staff. That probe will be led by standards editor Mike Semel, he said.
“Over a career spanning more than fifteen years in sports journalism — at NBC, ESPN, and The Athletic — I have built a body of work I am proud of,” Russini wrote in her resignation letter. “I have broken stories, earned the trust of sources across the league, and been guided by the highest standards of professional conduct.”
Russini’s contract was set to expire in June. She will not be paid out the remainder of the deal, according to multiple people familiar with the terms of her exit.
