Elijah Mitchell, a running back whose promising rookie season in 2021 now feels like a distant memory, has been cut by the Patriots.
Mitchell was only with the Patriots briefly last season and never appeared in a game for them. The team announced it was cutting him on Tuesday.
A 2021 sixth-round draft pick of the 49ers, Mitchell looked tremendous as a rookie, totaling 1,100 yards from scrimmage in 11 games.
But in Week One of his second season, Mitchell suffered a knee injury that knocked him out for most of the year, and he has struggled to stay healthy since. He missed more time in 2023, missed the entire 2024 season with a hamstring injury, and then signed with the Chiefs last year and only played in one game before he was released.
Mitchell may be able to find some team willing to give him a shot on a 90-player training camp roster, but it’s fair to question whether he’ll ever play in the regular season again, as a player who once looked like he had a bright future deals with the harsh reality of how short NFL careers can be.
On Monday, the New York Post published photos taken of Patriots coach Mike Vrabel during the third day of the 2026 NFL draft. On Tuesday, TMZ took it to another level.
TMZ has posted a video taken by a “photographer” (who isn’t a TMZ employee), which included a stream of increasingly aggressive questions directed to Vrabel at the Salt Lake City airport on Saturday.
Here are the questions, regarding the aftermath of the publication of multiple sets of photos featuring Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini:
“How are you holding up, man?”
“Look, there’s been just a lot of talk that there’s just a little bit of a double standard here, and I just wanted your take on that.”
“Are you doing alright?”
“Are you powering through?”
“Are you and your wife hoping to work it out, Mr. Vrabel?”
“Look, I’m just gonna — I’ve got to say that there’s some talk that maybe you should step down. It’s a distraction to the Patriots. I wanted your opinion on that, sir.”
“What does accountability look like for you at this point? Sir? Head coach of the Patriots. Big distraction here. Sir, is there any comment at all?”
“Sir, do you have the support of the Patriots? Full support? Any comment? Anything to say to Patriot Nation, at all?”
Vrabel said very little during the exchange. The “photographer” was clearly trying to bait Vrabel into a verbal confrontation, or maybe more.
The message is that this may be the new normal for Vrabel, at least for now.
His wife, Jen, has become a target for the paparazzi, too. TMZ, in a separate item, has posted photos of her, taken Tuesday at the Salt Lake City airport.
Three weeks to the day after the initial photos of Vrabel and Russini were published by the Post, the situation continues to generate headlines. The initial denials surely fueled the effort to get more information.
At some point along the way, it crossed over into something that will attract significant attention — unless the story finally fizzles out.
The Patriots have taken the next step toward keeping cornerback Christian Gonzalez in New England for years to come.
Gonzalez officially had his fifth-year option picked up today, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
That’s no surprise, but it would be a major surprise if Gonzalez actually plays on his fifth-year option, which would be an $18.1 million salary in 2027. More likely, the Patriots and Gonzalez will agree to a long-term contract extension this year.
The 23-year-old Gonzalez was the Patriots’ first-round pick in 2023 and has played very well through the first three seasons of his NFL career. He’ll likely sign one of the most lucrative contracts in NFL history for a cornerback.
Patriots tight end Hunter Henry and linebacker Robert Spillane both fielded questions about head coach Mike Vrabel’s messaging to the team when they held press conferences from the team’s facility on Tuesday.
Multiple media outlets have posted pictures of Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini interacting in multiple situations away from work over many years over recent weeks and Vrabel was not with the team during the final day of the draft in order to seek counseling and be with his family, but both Henry and Spillane said that the situation has not impacted the team’s focus on work during their offseason program.
“Coach coaches football and he keeps the main thing, the main thing,” Spillane said. “I know he’s dealing with personal issues, but when we’re in the building, we speak football.”
Henry said he thought Vrabel did “a great job” addressing players about the situation and has been “the same Vrabes” when the team has been in the facility. He also said that “everybody’s focused on the task at hand” as they prepare for the 2026 season.
“Obviously I know you guys want to hear about everything that’s going on,” Henry said. “To be honest with you, I’m focused on what we got going on right now in this building, with this team. Obviously had a long season last year, quick turnaround into the offseason, we’re in a new building. And every year is a new year, so we’re trying to build this team, we’re trying to come together, so I’m just focused on the guys in this locker room, and trying to build it from the ground up again. We have a long journey ahead of us; we have to start somewhere, so we’re starting right now.”
There will be many more opportunities for Patriots players to be asked about Vrabel in the days and weeks to come. The answers will likely be variations on the ones that Henry and Spillane offered on Tuesday as long as no future developments lead to a change in Vrabel’s status at any point this offseason.
ESPN won’t comment on whether it will be reviewing the reporting of former ESPN (and The Athletic) reporter Dianna Russini, given the photos published last week of Russini with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel in March 2020. That won’t stop others from reviewing her reporting as to matters relating to Vrabel’s team at the time.
As it relates to the 2021 trade that sent receiver Julio Jones from the Falcons to the Titans, it’s fair to wonder whether the reporting was calculated to help Tennessee secure the player under the most favorable terms.
Tony Farmer, who has been extensively covering the situation on Twitter, has found another report that objectively merits scrutiny.
As Farmer notes, Russini reported — only four days after the March 2020 photos reportedly were taken — that the Titans were “not interested” in quarterback Tom Brady, and that they were instead focused on extending the contract of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who had been named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2019.
While this item lacks the potential strategic benefits to the Titans of the Julio Jones reporting, it’s another bread crumb on a trail that people are now examining. And it’s fair to question whether the Titans were simply putting a positive P.R. spin on the possibility that the Brady had said “no thanks” to the Titans before the Titans created the impression that they were saying “no thanks” to Brady.
Although the 2020 negotiating window had not yet opened, rampant Brady tampering was happening. Teams were talking to him (and about him) before the official window for talking to him (or about him) had opened. It’s not unreasonable to think that, by March 15, he had crossed Tennessee off the list.
For now, it’s another piece of a puzzle that spans at least six years. And it underscores the reality that the NFL insider game isn’t about gumshoe reporting. It’s about leveraging the right relationships in order to be in position to be handed key pieces information, sometimes in ways that potentially benefit the source.
This latest nugget also helps explain ESPN’s relative silence regarding the entire story. ESPN largely ignored it until it had no choice but to cover it. While some have suggested it’s a result of the NFL’s recent acquisition of a 10-percent stake in ESPN, it’s possible ESPN doesn’t want to face the question of what it knew, and when it knew it.
