The Patriots are adding another rookie to their 90-man roster.
Per Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald, New England is signing undrafted safety Peter Manuma.
Manuma was a tryout participant in the Patriots’ rookie minicamp over the weekend.
Manuma played his college ball at Hawaii, where he was a four-year starter. He recorded five interceptions in his collegiate career.
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Two more Patriots draft picks have signed their rookie deals with the team.
The Patriots announced that third-round tight end Eli Raridon and seventh-round linebacker Quintayvious Hutchins are now under contract. The Patriots signed five picks on Friday, which leaves first-round tackle Caleb Lomu and second-round edge rusher Gabe Jacas as the only unsigned picks.
Raridon had 48 catches for 623 yards and 3 touchdowns in 40 games for Notre Dame. He joins Hunter Henry and Julian Hill at tight end for the Patriots.
Hutchins was close to the Patriots in college while playing at Boston College. He had 72 tackles, 5.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in 43 games.
The Patriots have five of this year’s draft picks under contract.
Fifth-round cornerback Karon Prunty, sixth-round offensive tackle Dametrious Crownover, sixth-round linebacker Namdi Obiazor, seventh-round quarterback Behren Morton, and seventh-round running back Jam Miller have all signed with the team. They all agreed to four-year deals.
Four picks remain unsigned, including first-round offensive tackle Caleb Lomu.
In addition to the draft picks, the Patriots also signed Illinois tight end Tanner Arkin, Miami defensive tackle David Blay Jr., TCU cornerback Channing Canada, James Madison wide receiver Nick DeGennaro, Culver-Stockton wide receiver Kyle Dixon, North Texas wide receiver Cameron Dorner, Oklahoma State cornerback Kenneth Harris, Missouri linebacker Khalil Jacobs, Georgetown wide receiver Jimmy Kibble, UCF running back Myles Montgomery, UAB guard JonDarius Morgan, and Florida State offensive lineman Jacob Rizy as undrafted free agents.
Free-agent receiver Stefon Diggs spent two days this week in court, in a criminal trial that hinged on a star witness who badly failed to deliver. Now that the criminal case is behind him, will someone sign Diggs?
He took to Instagram recently to make this observation: “This is not an opinion-based sport, so here are the numbers. I played 52% of the snaps and finished with 85 catches for 1,045 yards coming off an ACL. Where we going?”
It’s a fair question. He had the seventh 1,000-yard season of his career with the Patriots in 2025, his first and only season in New England. He’s a four-time Pro Bowler, a first-team All-Pro in 2020 and a second-team All-Pro in 2022.
The NFL has said, following the acquittal, that its investigation of Diggs under the Personal Conduct Policy remains open. If/when the league wants to interview him, Diggs won’t be able to decline to speak. The outcome could complicate his availability for 2026.
Regardless, Diggs proved in 2025 that he can still play. The goal for now should be to seek clearance from the league, which could be the last thing that is keeping teams from pursuing his services for the coming season.
Eventually, it also could come down to money. Diggs may want more than the market will bear. He may need to eventually abandon what he wants and accept the best offer he’ll get — or select something less than that for a chance to join one of the short-list contenders.
Exactly one month to the day since the first photos of Patriots coach and NFL reporter Dianna Russini emerged, TMZ has supplemented its report regarding the renting of a boat by the pair in June 2021 with a video of them on the dock.
On the surface, the video doesn’t add much to the broader story. Yes, it confirms the accuracy of the prior TMZ account. But it doesn’t tell anyone anything new.
Here’s the broader point, which the TMZ reporting on the Vrabel-Russini situation reconfirms: It’s not going away, and multiple outlets will continue to look for more.
What else is out there? Given that much of the evidence published to date shows little effort to be discreet or secretive, there could be plenty. And it could continue to drip, one drop at a time.
The broader question is whether and when Russini will tell her story. If/when she does, it will be tested against the information already available — and it will invite ongoing efforts to find anything that may contradict whatever she says.
As it relates to Vrabel, there’s the question of whatever he has said privately to explain the situation to his wife and family. If, as could be reasonably expected, a full account of the extent of the relationship was demanded and if the story omitted the Tennessee boat excursion while Russini was noticeably pregnant, that’s another issue Vrabel will have to navigate while focusing on preparations for the 2026 season.
At some point, it could become impossible to balance the issues in his personal life with a job that, once training camp opens, will consume his life. That’s why each additional development matters. And why, at this point, it would be foolish to assume there won’t be more.
After falling to the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye revealed that he’d received a painkilling injection in his right shoulder before the game.
New England had characterized Maye’s shoulder as a non-issue leading up to the final game of the postseason. But Maye getting an injection inherently put that into question.
Maye, however, did not need surgery and noted this week that he hasn’t had any further issues with his shoulder.
“Nothing, nothing, no problems at all,” Maye told the Associated Press, adding he’s doing “great.”
Maye finished second in AP MVP voting after completing a league-leading 72 percent of his passes for 4,394 yards with 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His 113.5 passer rating was also No. 1 in the league.
In the postseason, Maye completed 58.3 percent of his throws for 828 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions.
Kalshi now gives Mike Vrabel a 64 percent chance to be the coach of the Patriots in Week 1. The percentage dropped on Wednesday after a TMZ report that Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini rented a boat in Tennessee during June 2021, when she was pregnant.
The Patriots coach has been entangled in controversy since April 7 when the New York Post shared photos of the couple — both of whom are married to others — holding hands, embracing and spending time together in a pool at a boutique resort in Sedona, Arizona.
Now, Patriots players are being asked about it.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, who played in the Truist Championship Pro-Am in Charlotte on Wednesday, said he doesn’t think Vrabel’s off-field issues will be a distraction for the team.
“No, I don’t,” Maye told the Associated Press. “I mean, he’s our head coach. I think he’s done a great job of talking to us and talking us through it. I’m just looking forward to getting back to work and getting ready.”
Maye was asked whether the controversy is something the Patriots need to put behind them before the start of the season.
“I think that’ll take care of itself,” Maye said. “I know he’s got the right mindset, and I know he’s a great human being. I think he’s . . . like I said, I love playing for him.”
News moves markets. Specifically, prediction markets.
Five days ago, Kalshi had Mike Vrabel as having a 77-percent chance to be the coach of the Patriots as of Week 1. As of this posting, the number has plummeted to 64 percent.
The dip has happened in the wake of the TMZ report that Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini rented a boat in Tennessee during June 2021, when she was pregnant.
Wednesday’s news has not impacted the odds at Polymarket. The chances of Vrabel exiting by December 31 have actually dropped since May 1, from 23 percent to 19 percent. Since Tuesday night, the number has fallen nine points, from 28 percent.
While it’s unclear whether this specific development will have any tangible impact on his status, it underscores the reality that there may be more developments. At some point, the next nugget could be the one that forces him to step aside.
Not as a football matter, but as a family matter. With a decision to participate in counseling making him unavailable to the Patriots for the third day of the 2026 NFL draft, the situation could reach a critical mass at any time — one that could make his full-time, all-in employment as an NFL head coach unsustainable.
Our guess (and it’s just a guess) is that Vrabel would, if/when it gets to be too much to continue, take a leave of absence for 2026, with the door open to a return in 2027.
The Patriots clearly don’t want to lose him. At some point, however, the cascade of reports could make it in everyone’s best interests for Vrabel to step aside for a season, to do whatever is necessary to resolve the situation with his family, and to return with a clean slate next year.
It’s impossible to know whether the situation involving Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini will result in Vrabel stepping down as coach of the Patriots (or, possibly, taking a leave of absence for the 2026 season), because it’s always possible that more information will come to light.
More information has come to light.
TMZ reports that Vrabel and Russini rented a boat together in June 2021, in Tennessee. The report includes a copy of the waiver they both signed, and a photo taken by Vrabel with staff members at the boat rental company. (Russini, per the report, declined to be photographed with staff.)
In June 2021, Russini — who is married — was pregnant with her first child.
The new report adds to a tapestry of evidence that started with photos of Vrabel and Russini at an adults-only resort in Sedona, Arizona in March 2026. Later photos surfaced of Vrabel and Russini at a New York City bar in March 2020, and at a Mississippi casino in January 2024.
What else is out there? Outlets like TMZ and the New York Post, among others, are surely looking for it.
The overriding question is whether, and when, Russini will tell her story. If/when she does, one line of questioning will focus on the time they rented a boat, while she was married to someone else.
The most important question is whether Vrabel will be able to continue to coach the Patriots. He missed the third day of the 2026 NFL draft to attend “counseling.” Every additional piece of evidence that confirms the existence and duration of the relationship could the thing that forces Vrabel to step aside, for the 2026 season or perhaps longer.
The criminal trial against free-agent receiver Stefon Diggs played out on Monday and Tuesday. It ended with an acquittal.
Now that the case is over, there are a few things to be drawn from the entire experience. Here are five of them.
1. The prosecution failed to properly vet the case.
The case didn’t fail because of the story the alleged victim, Mila Adams, told on the witness stand at trial regarding the alleged assault. The rest of her testimony undermined her credibility, to the point that the jury rejected her story as to the most important aspect of the case.
The prosecution knew or should have known there were flaws, both as to her broader story and as to her ability to sell it. They should have pressed her aggressively during their interviews of her, in an effort to ensure she would hold up under cross-examination — and, more importantly, to develop true conviction (or not) that her story would be believed by strangers to the situation.
Based on her testimony, Adams arguably didn’t behave in the days and hours after the alleged incident like someone who had been slapped and strangled. She had no obvious injuries in the immediate aftermath of the alleged incident; if she did, she failed to take even one photo or video of them with her phone.
Most importantly, her financial motivations were unclear. She claimed she had been underpaid during her time as Diggs’s personal, live-in chef. The evidence presented by the defense suggested otherwise. Also, she tried too hard to make it look like she wanted no compensation from Diggs for the alleged assault and strangulation. Her way of dealing with that wrinkle was to periodically attribute the involvement of others on her behalf as part of an effort to get workers’ compensation, even though she had no injury that prevented her from going about her normal activities — such as working.
These are all things the prosecution could have, and should have, realized without forcing Diggs to incur the expense, annoyance, and uncertainty of a trial. Undertaking that effort should be part of the obligation a prosecutor has to the people.
A police report can be filed by anyone, about anything. It’s ultimately for law enforcement, as controlled by the local prosecutor, to exercise their very broad discretion as to who does and doesn’t get criminally charged with prudence and justice.
Diggs, based on the evidence that came to light at trial, never should have been charged. He never should have been charged because the prosecution never should have believed it was going to convince a jury that Diggs was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
2. The prosecution failed to properly prepare the alleged victim.
Any witness who testifies at trial has to fully understand how the process will unfold. Mila Adams apparently had no clue that it would be far more exacting than showing up, giving her version of the key facts, and leaving.
She hadn’t been prepared to address in a persuasive way the obvious weaknesses in her testimony. Why didn’t she immediately pick up her phone and take pictures of any redness or swelling from allegedly being slapped and strangled? Why didn’t she say something to the people she was with later that day, or the next day? Why did she wait two weeks to go to police? Why was she working with others to seek money from Diggs?
It was as if she was surprised by the fact that she’d be questioned aggressively on those issues. At one point, the presiding judge had to tell her (without the jury present) how the question-and-answer process works — and to say that her entire testimony “may be stricken” if she continues to not answer questions and/or to attempt to insert unrelated narratives into her answers.
While it’s possible the prosecutors did everything in their power to get Adams to understand what would happen and they believed she understood, her performance shows either they didn’t properly prepare her for the experience and/or they grossly misjudged what would happen when it was time to face cross-examination.
3. The prosecutor highlighted the alleged victim’s poor performance.
In perhaps the most stunning moment of the entire trial, prosecutor Drew Virtue began his closing argument by admitting that Mila Adams did a poor job on the witness stand.
“Was Ms. Adams a perfect witness? No. She was argumentative, avoidave [sic], difficult. But does that mean you should throw away everything she said? No,” Virtue said. “You don’t have to like Ms. Adams. You don’t have to like the way she testified today and yesterday. But you do have to give her and her testimony the weight that it deserves.”
The weight it deserved was overrun by the things that made her an imperfect witness, and by the things that made her and/or her performance potentially unlikable by a jury.
Maybe it was Virtue’s way of making things right. Maybe he knew, after watching the cross-examination of Mila Adams, that Diggs should not be convicted.
If that was the case, Virtue should have dismissed the charges before letting the jury deliberate.
If Virtue was indeed still trying to secure a conviction, it was an abysmal closing argument. The best fact in the Commonwealth’s favor — that Adams said she urinated while being strangled — wasn’t even mentioned during the closing. This specific detail doesn’t seem to be something a person making it all up would think to add to the story. An aggressive and impassioned plea to the jury to focus on that one critical fact and to ignore the noise about unrelated issues could have made a difference.
We’ll never know whether it would have, because Virtue made no effort to try to argue the case that way.
4. The trial was boring.
Most jurors have had no prior exposure to the trial process. Their expectations are largely if not exclusively shaped by movies and TV shows they have seen. That places a burden on the lawyers in any case to try to meet those expectations — by making the process interesting and, ultimately, entertaining.
None of the four lawyers involved in the Diggs trial seemed to appreciate that basic reality. The jurors need to have their attention grabbed by the performance of the lawyers. They need to have a reason to want to pay close attention to whatever happens next. The lawyer’s job is to carefully fashion every aspect of the trial — from jury selection to opening statements to witness questioning to closing arguments — with an eye toward capturing and keeping the full and constant attention of the jury, and on establishing and maintaining their trust.
The trial was, frankly, boring. While it’s not supposed to be entertainment, the more it feels like entertainment, the more the jury will pay attention to what’s happening and, ultimately, answer the plea of the lawyer who has won their trust when the lawyer asks them to deliver the desired verdict.
5. Professional athletes need to be careful about who they surround themselves with.
Lawyer Mitch Schuster, who represented Diggs, said in a statement issued after the acquittal that “professional athletes have a target on their back.” The target comes from their money and fame. And they need to act accordingly.
Players need to be very careful about the people they welcome into their inner circle. Adams served as Diggs’s personal chef. She lived in his house. He surely wouldn’t have done that if he knew she’d eventually file a police report against him, especially if (as his lawyers claimed) her allegations were false.
Adams described the environment in Diggs’s house as a “circus.” She was part of it. And she nearly brought down the big top, once she became motivated (for whatever reason) to make a police report that resulted in a felony case to be pursued against him.
Is it easy to ensure the various members of the inner circle can be trusted? No. That doesn’t make it any less important. Just as the prosecution failed to properly vet Adams as a witness, Diggs failed to properly vet her as someone who could be trusted to work and to live in his home.
That’s the biggest takeaway for Diggs and any other professional athlete. Be careful about the people who are around you all the time. They’re the ones who will be the most likely to eventually say you did something you didn’t do.
