Patriots VP addresses Mike Vrabel NFL draft role after Dianna Russini photos

• Photos of Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort were published by the New York Post.
• The New York Times is investigating Russini's conduct, and she will not be reporting in the interim.

(UPDATE: Dianna Russini resigned her position as an NFL reporter at The Athletic on April 14.)

The first high-ranking member of the New England Patriots has now addressed Mike Vrabel's situation − sort of − nearly a week after photos of the club's head coach with NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort were published by the New York Post.

Asked during the team's April 13 pre-draft news conference about Vrabel's involvement with player evaluations over the past week, Pats vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said: "Very involved. Business as usual. He’s been in there with us a little more than he was last year."

And that was pretty much it.

Wolf didn't talk about Vrabel before he began taking questions, then only got one remotely acknowledging the controversy his coach currently finds swirling about him. Wolf mentioned Vrabel a handful of times but only in the context of his role in evaluating draft prospects for the reigning AFC champions.

Vrabel, who addressed reporters the week prior to last year's draft, did not do so Monday but was never scheduled to, either. He and Wolf met with the national media at this year's annual scouting combine. Vrabel also spoke to reporters at the NFL's annual league meeting in Phoenix on March 31, just days after he'd been photographed at a posh Arizona getaway with Russini, The Athletic's NFL insider, but before those pictures of them surfaced in The Post.

The photos, which were published on April 7, show Vrabel and Russini in bathing suits poolside as well as hugging on a rooftop at the Ambiente in Sedona, Arizona, days before the league meeting. Both Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, are married to other people with whom they have children.

"These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable," Vrabel told the Post, which published the photos, in a statement last week.

"This doesn’t deserve any further response."

Vrabel will likely speak publicly during the NFL draft, which begins April 23 in Pittsburgh, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports. That person was granted anonymity because the Patriots have not formally scheduled any news conferences during the draft. And New England, which holds the penultimate pick of the first round, might not even choose anyone on the first night if the team trades back from that 31st overall selection − the one organically conferred to the previous season's Super Bowl runner-up.

Vrabel, Wolf and VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden all addressed reporters at various points during the 2025 draft, Vrabel doing so on the night of the first round following the selection of former LSU left tackle Will Campbell with the fourth overall selection.

Russini, who worked for the NBC affiliate in the Washington D.C. market and then ESPN prior to joining The Athletic in 2023, covered Vrabel while he was the coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018 to 2023. Though she initially received a statement of support from The Athletic (also effectively the New York Times' sports section) after the release of the photos, her conduct is now being investigated by The Times. She won't be reporting in the interim. Her contract is set to expire on June 30.

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