Training camp is underway for the New England Patriots, and head coach Mike Vrabel hasn’t been asked a single question about the scandal that dominated his offseason.
The Patriots head coach spent more than 14 minutes with reporters on Friday, July 24, as players reported for camp at Gillette Stadium, and the discussion was strictly football. That has been the case in subsequent press conferences as well, with nobody bringing up Dianna Russini, the former NFL insider whose alleged relationship with Vrabel became a tabloid circus after photos of the pair were published by Page Six in April.
Mike Vrabel Opens Training Camp Without Facing Dianna Russini Scandal Questions
In a recent column, OutKick’s Armando Salguero noted what that means for the Patriots head coach as New England looks to take the next step after last season’s Super Bowl run, arguing that it “sealed the fact Vrabel has successfully avoided a major distraction to start training camp.”
The controversy began on April 7 after Page Six published photos of Vrabel with Russini, who was covering the NFL for The Athletic at the time, during a trip to an Arizona resort before the league’s annual meetings.
The images showed the two together poolside and in a hot tub, and subsequent photos and videos showed them together at a New York bar and renting a boat years earlier. Vrabel missed the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft to attend counseling.
Salguero pointed out that nobody has asked Vrabel some obvious follow-ups, including whether the counseling is ongoing, whether it worked, or how camp and the season might be affected. He called it Vrabel’s “first victory of the season.”
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The subject remained off the table when Vrabel returned to the podium for his next press conference. He appeared with a puppy for the team’s “Pawtriots” adoption event, a move some observers viewed as a way to shift attention away from the Russini story.
The subject could still come up as camp rolls on, but so far, Vrabel hasn’t been asked about the scandal that dominated headlines for several months.
As for Russini, it remains to be seen what the next chapter of her career will look like. She resigned from The Athletic, with Tom Pelissero rumored as a potential replacement, and she remains under internal review by The New York Times, which owns The Athletic. That investigation hasn’t concluded yet. In texts with a reporter from The New York Times, Russini referred to herself as a “former journalist,” which suggests she may pivot.
Salguero’s take is that unless new details come out (say, the results of that Times investigation), Vrabel is in the clear. The longer reporters go without asking, the less likely it is that anyone will.
In his words, “Vrabel is 1-0 already to kick off training camp.”
