One of the unanswered, and intriguing, questions about the photos that touched off the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini situation is whether the pictures were taken by a private investigator, possibly at the direction of one of their spouses.
TMZ reports this wasn’t the case.
And TMZ would know. The outlet was reportedly offered the initial photos for “four figures,” but passed.
Per the new report, the photos were taken by a “local couple” who was staying at Ambiente, the adults-only resort in Sedona, Arizona. The husband is a sports fan, who recognized Vrabel.
Vrabel, like most NFL coaches, is hard to miss. The head coach is shown on TV throughout every game. Vrabel has been a head coach for seven seasons, with plenty of prime-time and standalone games — including, most recently, the Super Bowl.
It makes sense that it happened randomly. If a spouse had hired a P.I. to take the photos, the play wouldn’t have been to sell them. It would have been to use them for some strategic purpose.
That said, the strategic purpose could have been the creation of as much chaos as possible for the potentially cheating spouse. But that drags the entire situation into the public eye.
As we’ve seen. For the last 17 days. And counting.
There’s a new rule of thumb in sports media. When you’ve landed on the radar screen of Pablo Torre, it’s rarely good.
Torre’s latest episode focuses on the never-ending scandal that first emerged 17 days ago — the photos of Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini, formerly of ESPN and The Athletic.
If it took a while for Torre to get there, it’s understandable. His relationship with Meadowlark Media and The Athletic makes it delicate, to say the least. Dan LeBatard of Meadowlark Media has openly said he doesn’t want to talk about the situation because Russini is a friend. And The Athletic is neck deep in this pit of quicksand, especially since it voiced clear and unequivocal support for Russini in the first comments on the matter. (Torre at one point includes a disclaimer explaining that the opinions expressed are his alone.)
Torre adds an interesting fact to the story. As Jay Glazer of Fox was hosting the annual, poolside “day-drinking day” at the Biltmore resort in Arizona, where the league meetings were conducted, Russini was trying to organize a competing event — with Vrabel.
“Two sources with direct knowledge of this have confirmed it to me,” Torre said. “So that pool, where Jay Glazer was hosting all of those NFL head coaches and others. Across the way of that same pool was Diana Russini and Mike Vrabel. And what she was doing, I am told, was effectively trying to host a rival Office Christmas party. . . . It was Diane Russini. It was Mike Vrabel, among the cabanas, and a few other head coaches.”
The situation raised plenty of eyebrows.
“All of these head coaches across the pool and their wives, I am told, started talking about Vrabel and Russini. And this was before — days before the photos broke in the New York Post,” Torre said, “which is to say also, a thing I found out, is that their friendship was not breaking news to the people at the NFL owners meetings. They all knew that, in fact, they were out front together at this other competing, aspirational party.”
Given the various other developments that have emerged in recent days, this news won’t have the same impact as, say, Thursday’s March 2020 photos from the New York Post. But it’s another new snippet of facts for a story that has generated plenty since the original posting of photos and the strong denials from all involved.
Before last night, it was obvious that receiver A.J. Brown wouldn’t return to the Eagles for a fifth season with the team. Once the Eagles traded up to No. 20 to bogart Makai Lemon from the Steelers, it became obvious that Brown will not be back.
Still, Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman is committed to the bit. Here’s what he said after round one, via Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“A.J. is a member of the Eagles. We don’t have any trades that have been made, or that are done. And I think for us, we’re taking this one day at a time. We’re going to look to improve the team tomorrow, and we’ll continue to address anything that we have to with our roster, not only through this draft weekend, but we’ll continue to look for ways to improve the team throughout the offseason, and as we get into training camp.”
We continue to believe that the Eagles already have an unofficial deal in place to trade Brown to the Patriots after June 1, when the dead-money charge will be divided over two league years. It’s permissible to have a handshake deal, and there’s no requirement that it be announced.
There’s also no requirement that both teams proceed.
It requires a basic level of trust and a leap of faith that both sides will honor the handshake deal. Unless someone reneges (or Brown fails the physical), Brown will be a Patriot on June 2.
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel will miss the third day of the draft to participate in counseling, given the recent controversy that continues to reverberate throughout the league.
After the Patriots made their first-round pick on Thursday night, V.P. of player personnel Eliot Wolf met with reporters. He was eventually asked about Vrabel’s absence, and how things will work without Vrabel in the room.
“I just refer to the statement,” Wolf said. “That’s a personal thing that Mike’s dealing with and going through, and obviously we support him. As far as the work is concerned on Saturday, not too worried about that. Just as far as the process that we have in place, the people that we have in place. And it’s going to be different without his presence there, but we feel really good about the people that we have in place to make up for it.”
Wolf also was asked what the organization will be missing, without Vrabel.
“The stability of him as a person, some of the leadership, some of the presence,” Wolf said. “He does a nice job for us with the undrafted players. Obviously, he’s a tremendous recruiter, so that’s maybe something that we’ll be missing. But again, we’re very confident in the people we have with the process. The assistant coaches have done a tremendous job, as have the scouts, preparing for day three. And we’re excited about it.”
Wolf said that he’ll be able to contact Vrabel if necessary. Wolf will have final say on the picks made.
As it relates to undrafted players, the absence of Vrabel becomes a potentially significant wrinkle. Someone else will need to fill his role as a “tremendous recruiter,” underscoring the impact of Vrabel not being with the team during the scramble for rookies who aren’t among those who are drafted.
ESPN had largely ignored the Mike Vrabel situation, for most of the 16 days since it emerged. By Thursday, it had become something no one could ignore.
It wasn’t ignored when ESPN draft host Mike Greenberg interviewed Commissioner Roger Goodell before the start of the first round of the draft.
“This is not a Personal Conduct Policy [situation], as we know of today,” Goodell said. “It’s a personal matter, and we’ll leave it at that.”
“Is that the kind of thing that typically you would talk with the team about if the Patriots seem to be handling that?” Greenberg asked.
“The teams handle these matters when they’re matters when their personal matters, and they handle it,” Goodell said. “They have a lot more information that can benefit everyone involved.”
Goodell left the door open by adding the words “as we know of today.” Further evidence (and plenty has been emerging) could change what the league knows in the future.
The NFL has previously said it’s not reviewing the situation under the Personal Conduct Policy. The policy contains a catch-all provision prohibiting “[c]onduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL, NFL clubs, or NFL personnel.” That’s obviously very broad.
Again, there could be more evidence. At some point, Dianna Russini (formerly of ESPN and The Athletic) could decide to tell her story. Depending on the story she tells, it could prompt the league to take a closer look at the situation.
That seems unlikely, for now. She has issued multiple denials of anything improper, both in response to the initial batch of photos published by the New York Post and in her resignation letter from The Athletic. More recently, she has deleted her Twitter account.
