On Tuesday, photos of senior NFL insider Dianna Russini and New England Patriots’ head coach Mike Vrabel surfaced, making headlines. 

According to a Page Six exclusive, the two were “spotted two weekends ago” at a resort. However, Russini and her employer have issued their statements on the matter.

“The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day,” Russini said. 

Steven Ginsberg, the executive editor of The Athletic, made a public statement about the issue on NBC News on Wednesday. He said these photos are “misleading and lack essential context.”

“These were public interactions in front of many people,” Ginsberg said. “Dianna is a premier journalist covering the NFL, and we're proud to have her at The Athletic.”

According to the initial report, Vrabel and Russini were “holding hands and hugging at a luxurious hotel” in Sedona, Arizona. The two maintain that they were visiting the place with their friends.

Russini is a former soccer player who competed on the collegiate level for the George Mason Patriots. She worked as a reporter at ESPN for eight years before joining The Athletic, a New York Times-owned publication, in 2023. 

In her career spanning over two decades, Russini had upset Vrabel with her reporting once, and he called her out for it. 

Dianna Russini Clarified Miscommunication Over Comments About Vrabel

In 2024, on the “Pardon My Take” podcast, Russini revealed that Vrabel called her to express his discontent over reports she was working on.

“He called me the day after an aggregator took something I said that basically said Mike Vrabel is too fat to work,” Russini said at the time. “What I shared … was that I had dinner with a GM at the Senior Bowl and we had conversations about how bizarre this last coaching cycle was and how crazy it was that Belichick and Vrabel didn’t have gigs.”

Vrabel is a former linebacker who played with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs, before retiring in 2011. He began his coaching career at Ohio State University, his alma mater. 

He took over the Patriots last year after the team went 4-13 in 2024. With Vrabel, however, the team won the 2025 AFC championship but lost the Super Bowl to the Seattle Seahawks. 

When asked about the photos, Vrabel dismissed them after saying they distorted his interaction with Russini.

“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” he said. “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”

According to NBC News, the Patriots’ representative did not comment. 

Read more at the Cleveland Browns Community.

Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore