Dianna Russini wanted her text messages to The New York Times reporters kept private. That didn’t happen — and now the New England Patriots-linked scandal surrounding the former Athletic NFL insider and head coach Mike Vrabel is back in the news just one month before the Patriots open training camp.
The Times published a wide-ranging report on Russini’s career and the Vrabel controversy on Wednesday, quoting from text messages Russini sent in early May while the paper was finalizing its report, the first substantive personal comments she had made since resigning from The Athletic on April 14.
The texts were never meant to be public. Times reporters said in the report that they never agreed with Russini to keep the texts off the record, and her attempt to squelch them “demonstrated a different approach to journalism from the way that it is conducted in traditional newsrooms.”
GettyDianna Russini
Russini Text Messages Reveal Personal Toll
“This has had a significant impact on my life, both professionally and personally,” Russini wrote in a text to a Times reporter, as quoted in the Times report. She also said that [removed typo/grammar issue: “endured” changed to “had endured”] “intense scrutiny and personal attacks” in the wake of the original photos showing herself and Vrabel in seemingly intimate settings, described herself as a “former journalist,” and asked that portions of her response not be published.
The reporter informed Russini that no off-the-record agreement had been established. Russini then escalated, emailing Athletic publisher David Perpich and two senior New York Times editors directly to reiterate her request that the texts stay out of the story. The Times published the messages.
The New York Post noted that Russini apparently believed the exchange was off the record, or at minimum that her request would be honored. The episode marked only the second time her voice entered the public record since her April 14 resignation — the first being a formal departure statement.
USA Today reported that Russini earned approximately $800,000 annually at The Athletic, adding financial context to the stakes of her departure and the institutional weight behind the continuing scrutiny of her conduct.
Vrabel Scandal and What Reignited It
The original story broke in early April 2026. Photos taken March 28 at the Ambiente resort in Sedona, Arizona — an adults-only property near Phoenix, where NFL owners meetings were underway — showed Russini and Vrabel, both married to other people, together in a hot tub and embracing on a private rooftop accessible only through a hotel suite. Page Six published the photos on April 7, and others on later dates.
Russini told Page Six the photos lacked context, noting that six people were present and that NFL reporters routinely interact with sources away from stadiums. Vrabel called any suggestion of impropriety “laughable.” The Athletic initially backed her before additional photos emerged that, according to the Times, “raised new questions about Dianna’s conduct.”
The Athletic launched a formal investigation into Russini’s conduct and reporting, including her role brokering access for a January 2025 profile of Vrabel. Rather than wait for its outcome, she resigned April 14.
“I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept,” she wrote in her departure statement, as quoted by the Times.
Vrabel, who skipped the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft to seek counseling, later softened his earlier dismissive posture and acknowledged his prior conduct fell short of his own standards. He received a standing ovation at a Patriots season-ticket holder event on April 29. The story grew quieter through New England’s spring OTAs and mandatory minicamp, until the June 24 Times piece arrived and put the ethics and institutional-response questions back in the headlines.
New Dianna Russini Comments Revive Mike Vrabel Controversy Before Training Camp