More than five weeks after photos of Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini surfaced from a resort in Sedona, Arizona, the scandal shows no sign of fading. New images, videos, and details continue to emerge every other day, and the story has moved from the sports section to extensive gossip coverage.
Yet very few people close to Russini have spoken publicly about the situation. That changed, at least briefly, when former “Scoop City” co-host Chase Daniel appeared on “The Jim Rome Show.”
Chase Daniel Had a Carefully Worded Response on Dianna Russini’s Situation
Daniel and Russini co-hosted “Scoop City” at The Athletic, and the podcast also added reporter James Palmer as a third host during the 2025 season. Awful Announcing reported in early April that Scoop City was “in transition” and that Daniel’s contract had expired.
After that, Page Six published the Vrabel photos on April 7, then Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, and the former NFL quarterback has since joined ESPN. When Jim Rome asked Daniel about Russini’s situation, the latter chose his words carefully.
“Look, that’s something that’s unfortunate in many different ways,” Daniel said, as per Tony Farmer, who has extensively covered the whole Russini-Vrabel saga. “We haven’t really chatted about it. We haven’t done any of that, so I’m going to leave that there.”
“That’s their business,” Daniel added. “It has turned into quite the assignment of everything, it’s like TMZ is covering it, the Wall Street Journal, all these things are covering it, so I’m sure she’ll land on her feet somewhere, and that’s all I’ll really say about that.”
Daniel’s comments make sense as he now works for a network, ESPN, that has largely avoided covering the scandal, and any comment would have created its own headlines.
Thursday:
3:20p ET @Ky1eLong
3:40p @ChaseDaniel
4:00p @FanDuelPredicts (@BigHeadBets)
5:00p #WhatsYourBeef?
The After Hour: @AdamRank
📻: @Westwood1Sports
📡: Sirius 161 / XM 206
📺: @PrimeVideo, @Roku, @SamsungTVPlus, @LGUS, @plex, @DIRECTV, @TCL_USA + @wfplustv…— Jim Rome (@jimrome) May 14, 2026
The timeline of this story has only expanded since the original Sedona photos. Page Six published images of Vrabel and Russini allegedly kissing at a New York City bar in 2020. TMZ then reported that the pair privately rented a boat together in Putnam County, Tennessee, in June 2021.
Vrabel, who initially called the situation “laughable,” acknowledged before the draft that he had difficult conversations with his family and the organization, and missed the third day of the draft to seek counseling.
BE AN NFL GM: PFSN’s Ultimate GM Simulator
With the full NFL schedule releasing tonight, teams’ social media departments will have fresh material for their annual schedule release videos, and the Vrabel-Russini saga is easy fodder for teams who like to troll, especially the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl rematch against the New England Patriots in the season opener ensures that Vrabel will be under the national spotlight from Week 1 itself.
