It’s been more than a week now since Dianna Russini resigned from her position at The Athletic after pictures surfaced of her and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel spending time together at a resort in Arizona.
However, Vrabel is returning to the Patriots this week after taking a brief amount of time for himself and his family. But as more and more details come out about their affair, past players and current media members are giving their opinions on it all.
Has Mike Vrabel Gotten Off ‘Easy’ Amid the Dianna Russini Scandal?
If you’re one who believes Vrabel has gotten off easy throughout this whole process, it might make a lot of sense. The Patriots’ head coach still has his job and hasn’t faced nearly as much online criticism as Russini has, and he is also married.
However, Russini has faced continuous online backlash over her actions, and she even resigned from her reporting job, which many believe would have happened regardless of her decision.
But, there’s a lot more involved, like continuous signs on social media — almost like breadcrumbs Russini was leaving — of their affair, and open bashing of her husband online as well.
That’s exactly what a former NFL player pointed to when admitting Vrabel has gotten off easier, but adding he believes it’s been somewhat justified.
“Vrabel got off easy. He’s got off easy by the court of public opinion. But Vrabel’s got off easy because Vrabel didn’t leave much of a footprint and Vrabel didn’t look as idiotic while leaving the footprint,” Emmanuel Acho said on his Speakeasy podcast.
“That’s why Vrabel’s gotten off easy,” he added. If Vrabel had a bunch of tweets that we were pulling up. If Vrabel had a bunch of Spotify playlists that he sent to Dianna Russini, then Vrabel wouldn’t have gotten off this easy. But at the end of the day, Vrabel didn’t name his child Dianna. Dianna named her child Michael.”
To further drive his point, Acho compared Vrabel’s and Russini’s different approaches to the affair to a crime scene.
“Dianna Russini, unfortunately, you left your fingerprints all over the crime scene,” Acho said. “Vrabel was wearing gloves. He got in there, he got out of there. No fingerprints. So, that is why Vrabel has gotten off easy.”
Then, the group discussed Vrabel’s future on the Speakeasy podcast, whether they expected the Patriots to fire their head coach, or Vrabel would resign — like Russini did — or if nothing would happen.
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“I do not anticipate Mike Vrabel stepping down. I do not anticipate Mike Vrabel resign. I do not anticipate Mike Vrabel get fired because this isn’t a fireable offense, like cheating on your significant other is not a fireable offense,” Acho said.
“It might be a deplorable moral offense by some people’s standards, but marriage is different for everybody. So I can’t even suggest that it’s a deplorable offense; I just know it’s not a fireable offense. But the reason he’s gotten off easy is because Dianna Russini has tweeted out the name Michael probably 15 to 20 times, and Mike Vrabel has probably never tweeted out the name Dianna,” he added.
Whether you agree with Acho’s take or not, the Patriots don’t exactly have a pristine track record of disciplining people within the organization for moral offenses outside of the game of football. Just take owner Robert Kraft, for example.
New England has about nine days before the rookie minicamp begins, and then the team will have optional team activities over the summer before training camp begins in late July.
