Even as Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft commences, one of the biggest stories has been the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini drama.
As more information continues to surface about the inappropriate relationship, a clip resurfaced of Russini recalling the time Vrabel confronted her about a story.
Mike Vrabel Confronts Dianna Russini Over Story
All of the drama started a few weeks ago during the NFL league meetings in Phoenix, Arizona, when the two were photographed together at a resort.
More images eventually came out featuring the two at a casino and at a discreet bar in New York City dating back six years. It was so bad that the New England Patriots head coach announced he would miss Day 3 of the NFL Draft to attend counseling. Even better, they said he’d be back in Foxborough on Monday.
The whole situation is crazy: a former Super Bowl Champion even called it a “clown show.”
Now, another clip (before all the drama) from the “Pardon My Take” podcast with Barstool’s Big Cat and PFT Commentator has emerged, and Russini talked about a time when Vrabel confronted her over a story.
“Mike Vrabel called me the day after an aggregator took something I said that basically said Mike Vrabel is too fat to work,” Russini said in the old clip.
“What I shared on ‘The Football Podcast’ on The Athletic 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 [Bill] Belichick and Vrabel didn’t have gigs. I said, ‘Why do you think Mike didn’t get a job?’ He said, ‘I think they needed a change in there in Tennessee, but in terms of the next opportunity I think there’s a lot of people who are very intimidated by him… He’s confident and physically a big human being.'”
Vrabel clearly didn’t like the comment, though it’s safe to say that he is a big guy, considering he stood at 6’4″ and weighed 261 pounds while he was a player.
During his time with the Tennessee Titans, he coached the team to a regular-season record of 54-45 (.545) and several playoff appearances. However, the team could never get over the hump in the playoffs, with their best run ending with a Conference Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
He was later fired by Tennessee but was picked up a year later by the Patriots, who advanced to the Super Bowl in his first season with the team.
In PFSN’s NFL Defensive Impact metric, the Patriots ranked 12th with a DEFi score of 78.2 and a letter grade of C+. Meanwhile, they ranked No. 2 with with an OFFi score of 86.6 and a letter grade of B in PFSN’s NFL Offense Impact metric.
With the Vrabel-Russini drama, it seems like the stories and rumors won’t slow down anytime soon.
