The 2026 NFL season will get underway in a few weeks, and the Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel scandal has continued to lurk in the periphery of the news cycle.
Some fans and analysts continue to question the Associated Press’ silence on Russini’s status as a voter for the annual NFL awards and end-of-season honors.
Tony Farmer Questions Dianna Russini’s AP Voter Status
On Monday, NFL podcaster Tony Farmer questioned why the Associated Press has yet to strip Russini of her voting status despite the fact that she has resigned from The Athletic and was in an alleged relationship with Vrabel, who won the NFL Coach of the Year award last year.
“So let me get this straight … Hub Arkush lost his AP NFL Awards voting role for telling people who he WASN’T voting for, but Dianna Russini tells a player and GM who she WAS voting for, doesn’t disclose her close personal relationship with Mike Vrabel, resigns from The Athletic, is apparently unemployed, and she still has her role as an AP voter and the AP won’t even comment on this issue. Got it. Makes total sense,” Farmer wrote.
Russini has been one of 50 designated media members on the voting panel since 2022.
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Vrabel first won the NFL Coach of the Year Award in 2021 during his stint as the Tennessee Titans head coach and in February 2026 after a stellar first season at the helm of the New England Patriots. Based on photos and videos that have been published, Russini and Vrabel’s alleged relationship dates back as far as 2020.
The NFL stated that the scandal did not violate the league’s personal conduct policy and declined to pursue a formal investigation, deeming it a personal matter.
The major networks, including NBC and ESPN, have also been slammed for giving the Russini-Vrabel scandal limited coverage.
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The Athletic has yet to release the findings of its internal investigation into Russini’s reporting, prompting Farmer to speculate about what could be causing the delay.
“What if managers at The Athletic were aware of how close she was with Mike Vrabel?” Farmer said. “What if managers at The Athletic encouraged her to get closer, encouraged her to cross that line? … I’m totally speculating here.
“I’m not saying this happened, but that is the type of thing that I think would make them be like, ‘Oh, we can’t release this. We’re complicit. Our own managers told her to do it. We can’t.’ Like, it might be something like that. And that’s where my mind is going to go, if we just get silence, silence, silence leading into the NFL season.”
Fans and analysts have also questioned why the findings from The Athletic’s investigation into Russini’s conduct have not yet been released despite executive editor Steven Ginsberg promising a resolution months ago.
Russini resigned from The Athletic in April, and she referred to herself as a “former journalist” in text messages with a reporter from The New York Times, so it certainly sounds like she is considering a career change. Given everything that has happened, it’s surprising that the AP has been silent on her status as an NFL awards voter.
