Details emerge around Dianna Russini’s efforts to push back against Mike Vrabel photo scandal

By the time Page Six shared a series of photographs showing New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini at a luxury hotel in Arizona last Tuesday, she had already known about their existence for several days and spent the time in between attempting to craft a narrative that would counteract the insinuations ahead.

That’s just one of the details in a new report from Ben Strauss at ESPN, which goes behind the scenes as the story surrounding Russini and Vrabel went public, eventually leading to her resignation from The Athletic while under internal investigation.

According to Strauss, a reporter from the New York Post, which oversees Page Six, approached Russini at her home in Bergen County, NJ, and told her they had photos of her and Vrabel together at an adults-only resort in Arizona. She then contacted a crisis communications expert to figure out a response, per Strauss, and “coordinated with Vrabel about how to respond to the Post.” Strauss also reports that Russini appealed to Times Company CEO Meredith Kopit Levien to make her case before the photos were made public.

The Page Six story about the photos presented insinuations but stopped short of saying Russini and Vrabel were at the resort together, including accounts from them and others to say they were both accompanied by friends. Per Strauss, the Post was even open to changing the story’s tone or potentially spiking it altogether if Russini or Vrabel had produced “compelling evidence” to support the presence of other friends, which they did not.

A lack of compelling evidence is apparently what troubled The Athletic as well. Despite initially standing with Russini against the speculation, the company eventually opened an investigation into the reporter and removed her from publishing any new reports until it was completed. Per ESPN, the outlet asked Russini to provide evidence that would back up her story, such as text messages or photos with friends in Arizona. However, per three sources, Russini was unable to provide “sufficient evidence.”

Russini stood by her story and reputation in her resignation letter, saying that she was doing so “not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.” Meanwhile, The Athletic’s investigation to corroborate her account of the Vrabel meeting will continue, led by standards editor Mike Semel.

Russini, whose contract was set to end in June, will not be paid on the remainder of that deal following her resignation, per Strauss.