Tuesday’s press conference from Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was a surprise to everyone. Including the reporters who cover the team.
As explained by Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, the notice sent by the Patriots on Monday did not mention Vrabel would be speaking.
Instead, the email sent at 4:35 p.m. ET on Monday said only that, on Tuesday at noon, “two players” would be available at the end of their workouts.
The approach ensured that the press room wouldn’t be swarmed by reporters who don’t regularly cover the team — reporters who would have no qualms about attempting to pepper Vrabel with questions after he made a statement that lasted a little longer than two minutes.
Volin explains that, after the statement was delivered, Vrabel was available for a “side session” with the reporters who were present. Per Volin, “reporters were ordered to turn off all cameras, including phones, and were told to ask only football questions.”
Karen Guregian of the Mass Live didn’t stick to football. Per Volin, she asked Vrabel about Dianna Russini’s resignation last week from The Athletic, as a result of the photos that Vrabel initially dismissed as “laughable” before providing a more grave and contrite explanation on Tuesday. Vrabel declined to answer.
Nicole Young of the Globe asked about Vrabel’s conversations with Robert and Jonathan Kraft regarding the situation. Patriots V.P. of communications Stacey James said that the “questions should be kept to football matters.”
The strategy, which Volin dubbed a “sneak attack,” came after a report emerged on Sunday night that the Patriots tried to kill the initial publication of the photos of Vrabel and Russini by the New York Post. On Tuesday’s PFT Live, Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston questioned whether the Monday morning leak to Adam Schefter of ESPN that a trade by the Patriots for Eagles receiver A.J. Brown is “likely” was aimed at changing the subject from the latest development in the Vrabel-Russini imbroglio to a football topic.
Challenges of this nature are always handled with planning and premeditation by the involved organizations. The initial response was woefully inadequate; the photos juxtaposed with strong statements from Vrabel, Russini, and The Athletic left plenty of daylight between the visual evidence and the verbal denials.
The more recent tactic apparently worked. Vrabel spoke to the beat reporters who had shown up to hear from “two players,” without the potential crush of others hoping to grill him about the publication of the photos, his original reaction to them, and his latest remarks.
The next questions become whether news publications will send reporters to Vrabel’s next media availability on the first night of the draft, whether they’ll ask him about the photos and their aftermath, whether he’ll answer them, and whether the Patriots will even allow him to do so.
Our guess is that, if asked about the matter on Thursday night, Vrabel will say (to quote one of his predecessors in New England), “It’s already been addressed.”
The Patriots have fullback Jack Westover back on their roster.
Westover signed his exclusive rights free agent tender from the team on Tuesday. That tender prohibited Westover from speaking with other teams and the start of New England’s offseason program marked a sensible time for him to formally re-sign with the team.
Westover entered the NFL as a tight end, but moved to fullback last year. He appeared in every game last season and caught one pass in the regular season as well as one in the playoffs.
The Patriots signed Reggie Gilliam as a free agent last month, so the two men are now set to compete for playing time on the Patriots offense this season.
A report on Monday indicated the Patriots are “likely” to acquire Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown in a trade after June 1.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was asked about Adam Schefter’s report on Tuesday. Vrabel initially asked what the report was.
“No. I mean, I think we are going to continue to try to strengthen our team,” Vrabel said, via Brian Hines of patspulpit.com. “The first focus is going to be on Thursday night and making sure that we get that right, and then we’ll focus on Friday. Saturday is always an important day.
“Just to continue to build our roster. Eliot [Wolf] and Ryan [Cowden] will have numerous conversations with different teams, but our first focus is gonna be on the draft.”
Brown is not attending the Eagles’ voluntary offseason program as he seeks clarity on his future.
Vrabel previously coached Brown with the Titans.
For more than two minutes on Tuesday, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel basically said nothing about the controversy that has been the top story in the NFL for two weeks. He also said everything.
Vrabel referred to the photos published two weeks ago by the New York Post of Vrabel with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini as a “personal and private matter.” He had a “conversation” with the players about it.
He said he had “some difficult conversations with people that I care about.” He said that the team needs to “make good decisions” on and off the field — and “that starts with me.” He said, “You never want to be the cause of a distraction.”
The tone and content represent a sharp departure from what Vrabel said when the issue first emerged, in comments that reportedly were the result of coordination with Russini regarding the strategy for responding to the looming publication of the photos.
Said Russini at the time: “The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day. Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.”
Russini hasn’t wavered from that position. In her resignation letter, Russini blamed the uproar on “commentators in various media [who] have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.”
She explained that she was stepping down from her job “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.”
Vrabel’s comments give plenty of oxygen to the narrative. Which could make it even harder for Russini to rebound from the situation.
In contrast, Vrabel will by all appearances be moving forward.
Two weeks after Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had very little to say about photos published by the New York Post of Vrabel with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, Vrabel had more to say.
Vrabel appeared before reporters on Tuesday to make a statement about the situation.
“Thank you for your patience that you’ve shown in a personal and private matter,” Vrabel said, via Kevin Stone of New England Football Journal. “For me, and obviously everybody involved, I know that that’s not easy for you, and I respect that and I appreciate your efforts in doing so.
“I understand I could have, you know, addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly, as we began our offseason program, which everyone is excited to be a part of. [Patriots V.P. of communications] Stacy [James] had mentioned the players’ [media] availability. It was never my intention to have them speak to you or address you before I did. So I asked him to come today and talk with you.
“You know, I also don’t want to take away from our, you know, the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us, our organization, and the excitement and the joy that those players are gonna have that we bring onto our football team. They’re starting an amazing journey, one that should be celebrated as we welcome them onto our team.
“With that being said, you know, I’ve had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players. Those have been positive and productive. You know, we believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me, that starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. You never want to be the cause of a distraction. And when I — those are comments and questions that I’ve answered for the team, with the team, we’ll keep those private and to ourselves.
“I care deeply about this football team, and I’m excited to coach them. I also know that I’m gonna attack each day with humility and focus. And what I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That’s what I know, and I’m excited to do that. But I wanted to go and just address this, and thank you for your patience in dealing with the private and personal matter.”
That’s a far cry from Vrabel’s initial statement to the Post: “These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
The further response came today, after a 14-day stretch in which the issue has continued to be one of the biggest stories in the entire league. And he realized that the players made available to reporters would be asked about it, and that it would have been the first thing he was asked the first time he spoke to reporters during the draft.
While the carefully-worded statement includes no specific admissions or confessions, the entire message (in light of the broader context) shows that the initial effort to dismiss the situation was not successful. And that the situation was not laughable.
Whether this ends the matter for Vrabel and the Patriots remains to be seen. For now, he made the only move that could be made in order to minimize the extent of the distraction that was created.
