Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic during a company review of her work, in the aftermath of the publication one week ago of photos with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel.
The Athletic will nevertheless continue its investigation.
Jeremy Barr of the Guardian reports that Steven Ginsberg, executive editor of The Athletic, has sent to staffers a Slack message confirming that Russini has resigned.
“While I can’t share the details of our investigation into Dianna’s conduct, I want to emphasize that the leadership of The Athletic has taken this matter seriously from the moment we learned about it,” Ginsberg reportedly wrote.
The message explains that the review of Russini’s work will continue.
“When this situation was brought to our attention last week, there were clear concerns, but we received a detailed explanation and it was our instinct to support and defend a colleague while we continued to review the matter,” Ginsberg wrote. “As additional information emerged, new questions were raised that became part of our investigation.”
As explained in a prior item, Russini’s resignation may have been intended to prompt The Athletic to terminate its investigation. Her contract with The Athletic was due to expire on June 30.
Since the publication of the Associated Press article regarding Dianna Russini’s resignation from The Athletic, she has posted her full resignation letter on Twitter.
Here is the full text of her letter to Steve Ginsberg, executive editor of The Athletic:
“Pleasé accept this letter as my resignation from The Athletic, effective immediately. I have come to this decision with deep sadness but with clarity about what is right for me, my family, and the work I have spent my career building.
“You and I have already publicly addressed the recent attacks against me, and I have nothing to add publicly to what we have said. I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published.
“When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful.
“In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts. Moreover, this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept.
“Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to step aside now — before my current contract expires on June 30. I do 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.
“Over a career spanning more than fifteen years in sports journalism — at NBC, ESPN, and The Athletic — I have built a body of work I am proud of. I have broken stories, earned the trust of sources across the league, and been guided by the highest standards of professional conduct. That record speaks for itself.
“I remain grateful to The Athletic and for the extraordinary colleagues with whom I have worked there, for the platform it provided, and for the support you showed me during this difficult time. I wish you nothing but continued success.”
Responses to the letter on Twitter have been restricted, which is a sensible move. An innocuous trial-balloon tweet last week regarding the ongoing talks between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association was overrun by the predictable sort of toxicity that characterizes social media.
The letter itself seems to have been written by a lawyer. The giveaway is the designation at the top of the means of deliver: “Via Electronic Mail.” Lawyers almost always start their correspondence that way; non-lawyers rarely if ever do.
If it was written by a lawyer, it could be part of an effort to get The Athletic to stop its investigation before reaching a conclusion. If, in the end, The Athletic were to decide that the photographs of Russini with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel fall short of editorial guidelines that “require that their journalists avoid any activities that pose a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict, so as not to call into question their credibility” and/or that her denial of anything inappropriate was not entirely accurate, that would have made a bad situation even worse.
As it stands, the resignation arguably makes the investigation moot. Whether The Athletic comes to that specific conclusion remains to be seen. Other reporters at The Athletic and its parent company, The New York Times, may be jostling for a final, public statement to be made about the situation, in the interests of the publications’ credibility and integrity moving forward.
Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic, one week after the New York Post published photos of Russini with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at a resort in Sedona, Arizona.
Via Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press, Russini submitted a resignation letter to The Athletic on Tuesday.
“I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published,” Russini wrote, per the letter obtained by Maaddi. “When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful. In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.
“Moreover, this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept. Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to step aside now — before my current contract expires on June 30. I do 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.”
It’s for the readers to make their own decisions whether to accept that explanation on its face, or whether to engage in “self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.”
One possible explanation, in our view, is that she sensed where the investigation was going, that she knew regardless of the outcome her contract would not be renewed beyond the upcoming deadline, and that she moved on before The Athletic could issue a decision that would provide a far more clear and fully unmistakable definition to her career.
Even without a verdict from The Athletic, it will be very hard for Russini to fully restore her credibility. For now, pulling the plug on the investigation before it reached a conclusion may have been the only way to stop it from becoming even harder to recover from this incident.
One of the draft’s top tight ends is continuing a busy stretch this week.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Georgia’s Oscar Delp is visiting with the Buccaneers and Chargers this week.
Delp previously had top-30 visits with the Patriots, Ravens, and Vikings last week.
Delp did not work out at the scouting combine after a hairline fracture was revealed in his foot during a routine X-ray. But Delp was able to work out at Georgia’s Pro Day last month.
An experienced player at Georgia, Delp was on the field for 55 games with 34 starts. He totaled 70 receptions for 854 yards with nine touchdowns. That includes 21 receptions for 248 yards and four TDs in 2025.
There’s a subtext to the recent Dianna Russini situation at The Athletic. As explained by John Ourand of Puck in the latest edition of his Varsity newsletter, the controversy highlights lingering tensions between The Athletic and The New York Times, which purchased the sports publication in 2022.
Ourand describes the Times as “not quite a media company but rather a loosely organized federation of warring factions.” They have, per Ourand, “tribal leaders with a penchant for nursing longitudinal feuds, petty or otherwise.”
Past pressure points have come from the Times telling reporters working for The Athletic to not identify themselves as employees of the Gray Lady. Reporters with the Times have complained that The Athletic “operates under looser standards and rules.”
Via Ourand, the Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel imbroglio “has struck a particular nerve because staffers fear it reflects more broadly — and more poorly —" on the publication’s reputation.
Ourand notes that the drama impacts ongoing collective bargaining talks. The Times Guild wants The Athletic to be folded into the union, a request aimed at preventing the Times from buying nonunion operations and using their coverage to replace union jobs.
It makes for a bigger mess than it would have been if, for example, Russini were still at ESPN. The broader, and preexisting, dance between The Athletic and the Times makes the scandal a political football in the broader chess match between the two operations.
