Two months after photos linked Mike Vrabel and former NFL reporter Dianna Russini, the investigation that prompted Russini’s departure from The Athletic remains unresolved as the New England Patriots open mandatory minicamp, according to a New York Post report.
With the Patriots gathering in Foxborough on Tuesday for their first mandatory practices, the unfinished review continues to cast a shadow over an offseason controversy that neither Russini nor Vrabel has fully escaped.
The trouble started in early April. Photographs surfaced of Vrabel and Russini holding hands and embracing at the Ambiente, an adults-only resort tucked beneath the cliffs of Sedona, Arizona, according to the New York Post’s Page Six. Both were and remain married to their respective spouses.
The pair denied anything improper. Both insisted the images captured a larger group of friends who simply fell outside the frame.
“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel told the outlet. Russini gave a similar account, saying the pictures did not represent the six people who spent the day together.
Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, the New York Times-owned operation that supplies the paper’s sports coverage. She has denied an improper relationship with Vrabel throughout.
“I stand behind every story I have ever published,” Russini said upon stepping down.
GettyHead coach Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots is moving forward with minicamp as the Dianna Russini investigation drags on.
Russini Investigation Remains Unresolved
Inside the Times, patience is thinning, the Post reported. Editors first promised an inquiry, then went quiet. Two months on, staff still have no findings, and the long silence has revived the unease the announcement was meant to calm.
“It’s going to take a few more weeks. There’s just a lot to go through, and we obviously want to take our time and be careful doing that,” Athletic editor Steven Ginsberg reportedly told staffers at a recent all-hands meeting, according to the Page Six report.
The review is intended to address questions about Russini’s impartiality across years of NFL reporting and how the culture at The Athletic fits within the Times newsroom that acquired it in 2022. One insider called the episode embarrassing for staff.
What the Investigation Delay Means for Vrabel
For the Patriots, the timing is awkward. Minicamp opens June 9, the team’s last spring work before training camp, and the storyline refuses to fade. Vrabel stepped away during the draft for counseling and family, then turned up in Salt Lake City the same weekend, sharpening the media scrutiny rather than quashing it.
He resurfaced when OTAs opened May 27.
“My previous actions don’t meet the standard that I hold myself to,” Vrabel said in a May press conference, before steering questions back to football.
“I love Jen. I love the boys,” Vrabel added, referring to his wife and children.
Does the unfinished probe pose a direct threat to the New England Patriots? Not on its face. The Times review centers on Russini’s journalism, not the team, and the NFL declined to examine the matter under its personal conduct policy. Any corrections would touch her past coverage, a prospect that remains hypothetical for now.
Vrabel will run his New England Patriots through their final spring practices, talk about a roster reshaped by a turbulent offseason, and try to coach. The questions he cannot answer are sitting in a newsroom in Manhattan, where the clock keeps running.
Dianna Russini Investigation Still Open as Mike Vrabel, Patriots Open Minicamp