The NFL has no plans to investigate New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel under the league’s personal conduct policy according to ESPN’s Ben Strauss. But the question of whether the Associated Press will review Vrabel’s win as 2025 AP NFL Coach of the Year has not been answered.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported the AP has not responded to two emails that PFT has sent inquiring on the subject. Florio also wrote Sunday the AP has previously declined to release Russini’s ballot.
Florio explained why that’s pertinent information for the NFL public.
“There’s obvious reason for curiosity as to Russini’s coach of the year ballot. Vrabel won the award, with 302 points and 19 first-place votes,” wrote Florio. “Jaguars coach Liam Coen finished second, with 239 points and 16 first-place votes. Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald finished third, Bears coach Ben Johnson landed in fourth place, and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was fifth.
“Given the apparent relationship with Vrabel, based solely on the photos, there is clear interest in seeing Russini’s ballot. And it goes beyond whether she gave her first-place vote to Vrabel; if so, 18 others did. The question is where the other perceived candidates landed.”
Without telling the voters, the AP released all ballots for the 2024 awards. The AP did not release the ballots for 2025 voting.
Vrabel’s 2025 NFL Coach of the Year award was the second of his career. He also won the honor in 2021.
The coach of the year vote was very close last year, but it wasn’t the closest race in the league’s 2025 AP awards season. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye finished second for league MVP, finishing one vote shy of Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Associated Press Silent on Potential Dianna Russini Inquiry
GettyNFL insider Dianna Russini has voted for NFL AP awards since 2022.
Russini resigned from her position at The Athletic last Tuesday. But The New York Times, which owns The Athletic, is continuing its internal investigation into Russini’s reporting.
Some pundits see it as the responsibility of the Associated Press to follow suit.
“Russini’s ballots alone would not confirm anything with regard to a potential conflict of interest with Vrabel,” wrote Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner. “It would simply provide another data point in the story.
“However, considering these awards are important in a multitude of ways — players often have contractual incentives tied to AP awards, fans can vote on who will win, the NFL produces an entire night of primetime programming, NFL Honors, as a byproduct of these votes — it would seem reasonable for the AP to at least take a look at how Russini voted and issue a statement about her future as a voter.”
The AP would likely face more pressure to investigate into or release Russini’s 2025 ballot if Maye had won league MVP.
If Russini cast a biased ballot in favor of Vrabel, she could have given Maye her first-place vote for MVP. Russini could have also buried Maye’s biggest competition for the award, Stafford, deep on her MVP voting list.
NFL pundits, though, can only speculate whether Russini did that since her ballot remains unknown. As Lerner wrote, the ballot alone also wouldn’t confirm any bias.
Although, again, it’s a bit of a moot point because Stafford won MVP.
Patriots Tried to Stop Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini Photos Publication: Report
GettyThe Associated Press has not stated whether it will review Dianna Russini’s voting ballots after the release of her private photos with Mike Vrabel.
More details in the Vrabel-Russini controversy emerged Monday morning.
In Touch’s Kayla Aldecoa reported Patriots owner Robert Kraft “pressured” The New York Post not to publish the photos of his head coach with Russini.
“Robert Kraft intervened and had his honchos pressure The Post before they published and tried to kill the story,” a source exclusively tells In Touch. “The Post gave Vrabel a longer time to respond than what is considered industry norms, and Kraft took advantage of that extended timeframe to put pressure on the reporter and the newspaper. A notorious crisis strategist made the call but was unsuccessful in neutering the story.”
That isn’t going to sit well with fans who have argued there hasn’t been enough conversation from mainstream media on the photos. While the AP has been silent, so have a lot of other prominent voices in the industry.
Patriots analyst Scott Zolak alluded to why sports personalities might be avoiding the topic. One NFL freelance reporter lost her job at USA Today Sports over comments she made about Russini’s resignation.
Page Six released photos of Vrabel with Russini at a luxurious resort hotel in Sedona, Arizona. The pictures were taken during the week the NFL’s annual league meetings occurred in Phoenix this offseason.
One picture showed Vrabel and Russini holding hands. Another shot captured them hugging, and a third photo displayed the pair lounging in a pool.
Mike Vrabel Award Remains Under Scrutiny Amid Potential Dianna Russini Review