The NFL’s biggest story of the month — which has crossed over to national news, morning shows, and late-night TV — had a fairly big development on Saturday, when Patriots coach Mike Vrabel skipped the third day of the draft to attend counseling.
On Thursday, Patriots V.P. of player personnel Eliot Wolf explained that the draft room would be missing Vrabel’s “leadership” and “presence,” along with his skills as a “tremendous recruiter” of undrafted free agents.
During Saturday’s draft coverage on ESPN, Peter Schrager said this: “I’ve been told, from Patriot sources, that they are in constant contact with Vrabel throughout the day.”
That was a surprising nugget, to say the least. If Vrabel is skipping the third day of the draft for counseling, being in “constant contact” with the Patriots would undermine the basic purpose of being away from the team.
Later, Schrager retracted the report. Even if he didn’t call it a retraction.
“Following up on the Vrabel report, it was my understanding that Coach Vrabel was going to be in contact with the staff via phone/text, but I’ve learned that in the end, both Vrabel and the team ultimately chose not to interrupt him and his family during Day 3 of the Draft,” Schrager tweeted.
It’s a huge difference to go from “they are in constant contact” to “they are having no contact whatsoever.” So either the report was wrong — or it was right and the Patriots realized that it was the latest example of piss-poor P.R. and scrambled to clean it up.
Either way, here’s what Wolf told reporters on Saturday, from the transcript distributed by the team.
Q: “Were you in contact with Mike at all today, and if so, how often were you guys in contact?”
A: “So, last night we kind of talked through things and made the decision that the time away really needs to be time away, so we were not in contact with Mike today other than some just, ‘Hope everything’s going OK’ kind of texts early this morning.”
Q: “And just to follow up, when you talked to him last night when Day 2 ended, what kind of message did he leave you guys with headed into today?”
EW: “Just words of encouragement. He knows our process, and again, we talked about what kind of players we needed to add. We knew what kind of players that he liked, and obviously we drafted some of the guys that he had an affinity for today.”
So it sounds like the claim that the Patriots “are in constant contact” with Vrabel was not accurate. Given the overall size and sensitivity of the story, that’s a pretty significant mistake for ESPN to make, to say the least.
Patriots Clips
The Patriots had only Tommy DeVito behind starter Drake Maye until Saturday. That’s when they used a seventh-round pick on Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton, making him the 234th overall pick.
Morton is the ninth quarterback selected in the 2026 draft, although LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier isn’t one of those.
Morton finished last season with 2,780 yards passing with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions in 12 games. He missed two games with a hairline fracture in his right leg.
Morton spent five seasons in Lubbock, starting 3 1/2 of those seasons. He started 36 games, going 26-10 and completing 62.8 percent of his passes for 8,989 yards with 71 touchdowns and 28 interceptions.
As Patriots coach Mike Vrabel misses a fairly important work day due to the controversy that has consumed the NFL for 18 days, there’s a fairly important question to ask about Vrabel’s relationship with owner Robert Kraft.
Was Vrabel honest with Kraft from the start?
Either Vrabel didn’t tell Kraft the truth about what happened, or Vrabel did and the strong public statement regarding the initial photos of Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini (he called the situation “laughable”) were a calculated (and misguided) P.R. effort from the Patriots organization.
Regardless, it’s clear that Kraft is a strong proponent of telling the truth when it comes to landing in a troubling spot.
Rodney Harrison, a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame, admitted to using a performance-enhancing substance in 2007. He later explained the message he received from Kraft.
“When I was going through the situation and Mr. Kraft pulled me to the side, he said, ‘Look buddy, I love you. All I want you to do is be completely honest with everything. Don’t lie. Be honest,’” Harrison said at the time. “And that was the thing I really tried to do. [Kraft] says, ‘Hey, deal with the consequences, but you always come out better when you tell the truth.’ And that’s what I did. That’s the only advice I give to any of these athletes. We see when you lie what happens.”
We’ve seen what happened since Vrabel first provided this quote to the New York Post: “These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
When asked by reporters on Thursday to explain the shift from calling the situation “laughable” to missing the third day of the draft to attend counseling, Vrabel said, “That’s a private and personal matter. I don’t think that those comments — I think that that was an attempt to protect your family. And I would never be dismissive.”
But he was dismissive. The plan to “protect your family” (or perhaps to protect yourself from your family) was to insist it was nothing, and that anyone who believes otherwise is misguided.
In hindsight, everyone would have been better off if the truth had been told from the get-go. The denials from Vrabel and Russini operated as a Gary Hart-style dare to prove them wrong.
So, again, what did Vrabel say to Kraft when the photos first emerged? And how does Kraft feel about that?
Don’t expect any late-night statements to be issued on that point, even if it’s the most important long-term ramification flowing from the entire situation.
When Berj Najarian left Boston College in December 2025, the question became whether he’d reunite with Bill Belichick at North Carolina.
That’s not going to be happening.
Via Pete Thamel of ESPN, Najarian has taken a job at Michigan. He becomes the assistant general manager/strategy, with the job of assisting new coach Kyle Whittingham as to contracts, negotiations, and “strategy for the new college sports landscape.”
Najarian served as Belichick’s right-hand man for 24 years in New England. When Belichick took the job at Carolina, Najarian was already working for Bill O’Brien at Boston College.
The connection to Belichick nevertheless endured. An April 2025 email from Belichick regarding publicity for his book (which Jordon Hudson posted on social media during the kerfuffle following his disastrous CBS interview), showed “Berj” as a recipient. That raised an interesting question regarding whether and to what extent Najarian (unless Belichick would be sending the email to some other “Berj”) was collaborating with the head coach of a conference rival to his current employer.
So why wouldn’t Najarian rejoin Belichick? As noted in December, the elephant in the room may have been North Carolina G.M. Mike Lombardi.
Last year, Pablo Torre reported that Najarian was one of multiple key Patriots employees who complained about Mike Lombardi during his stint with the Patriots, resulting in Lombardi being ousted. (Lombardi has claimed he left voluntarily.)
Or maybe it’s as simple as Najarian seeing a more viable future in Ann Arbor, where things are just getting started, than in Chapel Hill, where another lackluster season could mean things will be coming to an end for Belichick and company.
The Patriots have traded up for the second time in two rounds.
After moving up to snag offensive lineman Caleb Lomu in the first round, the Patriots made a swap with the Chargers to get in position to take former Illinois defensive end Gabe Jacas.
The Chargers will receive the 63rd, 131st, and 202nd picks in exchange for giving up their original pick.
Jacas spent the last four seasons at Illinois and had 11 sacks during his final college season. He also led the team in sacks in 2024 and had the team high in tackles for loss both seasons as well.
New England has six more picks over the final five rounds.
The Patriots used a first-round pick on an offensive lineman for the second straight year and faced questions about where that player will line up for the second straight year.
Will Campbell’s selection in 2025 was met with questions about whether he might line up at guard because of his short arms, but the Patriots started him at left tackle as a rookie. Campbell struggled in the postseason, which meant that Thursday night’s selection of another college left tackle in Caleb Lomu led to executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf being asked about where he’ll end up.
“Will’s the left tackle,” Wolf said, via a transcript from the team. “And like I said, Caleb has some versatility. So, we feel like some of the pro day workouts that he did were on the right side and we were comfortable with that. But again, he’s very athletic, so I don’t think either side will be a problem for him.”
The Patriots have veteran right tackle Morgan Moses returning for 2026 as well and Wolf was asked if Lomu could wind up at guard.
“I think it’s possible,” Wolf said. “Again, that’s maybe one that we’ll see a little bit more when he gets here. But just from a physical athletic standpoint, I don’t see a reason that he couldn’t.”
Whatever route the Patriots wind up taking on the line, they’ll need the group to be stouter than the one that fell short against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
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.
