‘First Take’ reluctantly covers Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini: ‘We didn’t want to talk about it’

First Take attempted to avoid covering Mike Vrabel’s relationship with Dianna Russini, but it became unavoidable once football got involved.

Stephen A. Smith has covered Vrabel’s relationship with Russini on his SiriusXM Radio show. But First Take successfully avoided the topic for weeks.

First Take avoided the topic when Page Six published the first batch of pictures. They avoided the topic when Vrabel and Russini denied having a romantic relationship. They avoided the topic when Russini resigned as an NFL insider at The Athletic. They avoided the topic again when Vrabel addressed the media for the first time this week, issuing a rather empty statement about what he categorized as a “private and personal matter.”

And they repeatedly avoided the topic by brushing off every update as more of a gossip or tabloid headline than actual news. But when Vrabel announced he was seeking counseling and wouldn’t be with the New England Patriots on Day 3 of the draft, it became a football story that even First Take had to cover.

“We didn’t want to talk about it on this show. We have to sit here and talk about it now because he told us that he’s gonna go to counseling on Saturday, Day 3 of the draft.” – Shae Cornette on Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini pic.twitter.com/M5OYw4X2zo

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 23, 2026

“I’m in no position to comment on someone’s relationship or marriage or whatever. That is their personal business,” Shae Cornette said after Stephen A. Smith asked the First Take host to weigh in on the story. “I will say this, though, I don’t love the fact, now, as I said, it becomes a football situation, that Mike Vrabel has to be away from his team on Saturday on Day 3 of the draft. Why? Why can’t you be away on Monday? Why does this have to become my business that I know when you’re going to counseling? I don’t want this to be my business. I didn’t want any of this to be my business, quite frankly.

“What they do in their personal time is up to them. But now this creates a situation where we have to talk about it on this show. We didn’t want to talk about it on this show! So we have to sit here and talk about it now because he told us that he’s gonna go to counseling on Saturday, Day 3 of the draft. And that’s where I feel like this has now become, maybe a problem, and a little bit of a distraction to his football team.”

In Cornette’s defense, it’s not necessarily her responsibility to offer an opinion on every sports news story as the host of First Take. But it is First Take’s responsibility to offer an opinion on the biggest sports news stories, which Vrabel and Russini have been for weeks. And they should cover those stories, even when it’s a headline they would rather ignore.

This was never just another alleged affair. This was an NFL head coach potentially crossing a line with a reporter who covers his team and who had covered it while she was at ESPN. This was a reporter losing her job. This was a head coach throwing that reporter under the bus. And now it’s a head coach also being taken away from his responsibilities on Day 3 of the NFL Draft. Private and personal matters don’t have to be delved into. But ESPN can’t be in the business of not wanting a major sports matter to be their business.