The Vikings are not officially announcing their interviews for General Manager, but three more candidates for the role have now been reported.
According to multiple reports, Minnesota has put in an interview request for Titans assistant G.M. Dave Ziegler and 49ers assistant G.M. RJ Gillen. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes the Vikings have also put in a request for Chargers assistant G.M. Chad Alexander.
Of this group, Ziegler has previous G.M. experience, having served in that role for the Raiders in 2022 and 2023. He was fired midway through his second season, along with former head coach Josh McDaniels.
Gillen has spent the last 11 seasons with the 49ers. He was promoted to assistant G.M. last year after serving as director of player personnel for two years.
Alexander has been the Chargers’ assistant G.M. since 2024. He was previously with the Ravens’ personnel department from 1999-2018 before serving as Jets director of player personnel from 2019-2023.
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.
Free agent cornerback L’Jarius Sneed is no longer facing any criminal charges in Texas.
Sneed’s attorney Michael J. Todd told ESPN that all of the charges against his client have been dropped. Sneed was initially charged with aggravated assault for a December 2024 incident that saw his assistant accused of shooting at another man outside of a car dealership. A grand jury later indicted Sneed on a lesser charge of failure to report a felony, but he is now clear of all charges.
A lawsuit filed against Sneed related to the incident is still pending.
Sneed was released by the Titans in March. He was limited to 12 games over the last two seasons due to injuries and had 26 tackles in seven appearances last season.
Titans receiver Carnell Tate, one of my personal favorite 2026 prospects because of his Lego habit, said in the hours before he was drafted that he would “give up the bank” to get his preferred number, 17, at the next level.
Ultimately, Tate didn’t even make teammate Chimere Dike an offer.
At rookie minicamp, Tate told reporters that he didn’t want to “bother” Dike with it. Instead, Tate picked No. 14 for his “new team, new journey.”
Tate said 14 was the “best number available.” He also said it made sense because his mother was born on November 14, and because he was taken by the Titans in round 1, pick 4.
Dike, for his part, may have been ready to start the bidding. Tate said he was willing to pay in the “upper hundred thousands” for 17.
On one hand, a player’s number doesn’t mean anything. On another hand, it means everything. For a player who has become identified with a given number, or who has made that number part of his own personal identity, it’s an adjustment to change it. Tate is processing the adjustment by making the new number part of the new everything he’ll be experiencing.
If his career goes the way he and the Titans hope, Tate will quickly be identified by NFL fans everywhere as 14, the same way other great NFL receivers became known for the numbers they wore. Or, for one specific all-time great, it won’t matter which number he wears.
Randy Moss isn’t known as being 88 (at Marshall) or 84 (at Minnesota) or 18 (at Oakland) or 81 (at New England). He’s simply known as being Randy Moss.
Carnell Tate’s ultimate goal should be the same. Don’t be known as 17 or 14 or any other number. Be known as Carnell Tate.
Either way, he saved plenty of money by not trying to get Dike to give up 17. And that money can buy a lot of Lego sets.
In 2015, Robert Saleh was the Jaguars’ linebackers coach when they used the No. 3 overall pick in the draft on pass rusher Dante Fowler. During the first drill of Fowler’s first minicamp practice in the NFL, he tore his ACL, ending his rookie season before it began. Saleh hasn’t forgotten.
Saleh, now the head coach of the Titans, said today that he takes it very easy on drafted players at rookie minicamps because he knows that the draft process is long and requires flying all over the country to get poked and prodded by NFL teams. So while the undrafted rookies who didn’t do a lot of pre-draft visits will be on the practice field, the drafted players will be working with the strength and conditioning coaches to see where their bodies are after all that pre-draft work.
“When they’re going through the draft prospects, they’ve been through a lot of traveling,” Saleh said. “So over the weekend, with our draft picks, we’re going to be doing more baseline checking with them. So they’ll be with the strength and conditioning coaches. They’re meeting with all of us throughout the day, but as far as practice goes they’ll be with the strength and conditioning staff, creating a baseline to see where they’re at.”
Saleh said he still thinks about Fowler’s injury and how to prevent anything like that from happening again.
“Call it a scar. I was on the staff that saw Dante Fowler tear his ACL on the first rep of rookie minicamp,” Saleh said. “So I’ve just taken the philosophy of these guys have had a lot of stress over the last month. Their bodies aren’t ready for football, so we’re trying to see where they’re at so we can get them properly acclimated when they’re here with the veterans.”
