Mike Vrabel reportedly wanted to initially defend Dianna Russini’s reporting ethics

While Mike Vrabel’s public statement about the now-infamous Page Six photos was composed of just two sentences, new reporting suggests he pushed for something that actually defended Dianna Russini’s integrity as a journalist.

Those photos, first published by the New York Post on April 7, were taken on March 28 at Sedona’s adults-only Ambiente resort, just ahead of the NFL’s league meeting that began the following day in Phoenix, and showed the two of them holding hands, sharing a light hug, and spending time together in a pool and hot tub.

In response, the New England Patriots head coach claimed the images “show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” he told the Post, adding, “This doesn’t deserve any further response.”

We now know that brevity wasn’t Vrabel’s first instinct, according to ESPN’s Ben Strauss and Kalyne Kahler. A person who spoke with Vrabel at the time says he wanted to issue something more substantive, like a statement vouching for Russini’s reporting ethics, rather than merely dismissing the photos as innocuous.

According to a person who spoke to Vrabel at the time, the head coach had wanted to issue a stronger statement that defended Russini’s reporting ethics but settled on downplaying the photo

We also know, according to previous reporting from Strauss, that Russini had known about the photos for several days before Page Six published them, after a Post reporter approached her at her home in Bergen County, New Jersey. She hired a crisis communications expert and coordinated with Vrabel on how to respond, according to Strauss. The two were clearly in sync on strategy, then, even if Vrabel’s own instinct was to come out swinging in her defense before ultimately settling on a statement that just downplayed the photos.

The Athletic released its internal report on Russini’s body of work this past Thursday, nearly five months after she left the company. Editorial director for standards and editorial quality Mike Semel spent that stretch reviewing 903 written stories, 204 episodes of the Scoop City podcast, 77 videos and 25 outside appearances, and interviewing 14 staffers who’d worked closely with Russini. The report concluded the relationship was “in clear violation” of the outlet’s standards and laid out a timeline showing Russini told her own bosses, the very day the story broke, that the relationship was “strictly professional” and that no further compromising photos existed. Both claims proved false; additional photos, including one from 2020 showing the two kissing, surfaced in the weeks after her resignation. Two of Russini’s stories were subsequently updated with editor’s notes stating they didn’t meet the outlet’s editorial standards.

Russini responded to the report by telling The Athletic’s own Andrew Marchand last week that she “stands by any and all reporting” she’s ever done, even though she declined to sit for a full interview with the outlet’s sports media insider. Vrabel, asked about the findings by reporters in Foxborough, said he had no reaction and that the team had moved on to preparing for Seattle.