The Dianna Russini story shows no sign of dying down, more than two months after Page Six published photos of her at a resort in Arizona with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. On Wednesday, the New York Times published an article that spilled more beans on the Russini scandal, which laid bare the internal reaction to the matter.
Joe Pompliano Puts Dianna Russini’s Salary Into Context
The New York Times article revealed that Russini earned an annual salary of close to $800,000 and that her contract was set to expire at the end of June. After the revelation of Russini’s salary, sports business expert Joe Pompliano put the former reporter’s value to the company in proper context in a post on X.
“It’s surprising to see so many people shocked that The Athletic was paying Dianna Russini $800,000 per year,” Pompliano wrote. “Top NFL insiders make millions, The Athletic is the fastest growing business at the NYT, and Russini likely drove more paid subscribers than anyone else. It’s simple math.”
Since she joined The Athletic from ESPN in 2023, Russini had carved out a niche for herself in the industry for her accurate exclusives, but she resigned from the outlet after her photos with Vrabel began to be published by outlets like Page Six and TMZ.
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Jared Stillman Compares Russini’s Salary to NFL Insiders
During Wednesday’s segment of the “Stillman and Company” podcast, analyst Jared Stillman was shocked that Russini was paid so little vis-Ã -vis other NFL industry insiders, who earned mammoth annual salaries.
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“The value of the insider is to have somebody perpetuate the rumor cycle so that shows like this one, and all of the shows on ESPN, and all of the others can run with it and say, ‘Okay, Adam Schefter is reporting the Titans are interested in locking up Peter Skoronski; what should that contract be?’ And then it gets bigger, right?” Stillman said.
“Let’s say one of these insiders who has the credibility — Rapoport, Schefter, Russini, Breer, Pelissero — let’s say one of them puts out there that Joe Burrow is unhappy with the Bengals, may look for a trade at the end of the year. That’s gonna blow up,” he continued. “Every show is gonna talk about it. Every team, every city, what does our team need to do to get Joe Burrow? It’s all about the clicks and the recognition and everything else.”
“It’s a dirty game, it is what it is,” Stillman added. “But you have to break the news at some point for people to think you have the credibility that you can also spread gossip. I say all of that because, again, I think those guys make millions. I think Schefter makes $9 million dollars a year. If Schefter’s making $9 million, and Rapoport’s making in the millions, and all of these guys are in the millions, $800,000 isn’t really that big of a deal.”
While Russini lost her high-earning job that gave her widespread access into the NFL world, Vrabel only missed the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft to attend a counseling session with his family, before getting back to preparing for his second season in New England.
