This offseason, Mike Vrabel became a fascination beyond just sports media, crossing over into the tabloids. ESPNBen StraussCloseBen StraussESPNBen Strauss is a senior reporter focused on sports business. and Kalyn KahlerCloseKalyn KahlerESPNKalyn Kahler is a senior NFL writer at ESPN. Kalyn reports on a range of NFL topics. She reported about the influence of coaching agents on NFL hiring and found out what current and former Cowboys players really think about the tour groups of fans that roam about The Star every day. Before joining ESPN in July of 2024, Kalyn wrote for The Athletic, Defector, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated.
She began her career at Sports Illustrated as NFL columnist Peter King’s assistant. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she was a varsity cheerleader. In her free time, Kalyn takes Spanish classes and teaches Irish dance. You can reach out to Kalyn via email.Multiple AuthorsSep 7, 2026, 07:21 AM ETOpen Extended ReactionsFOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Mike Vrabel, the hulking former linebacker who coached his team to the Super Bowl last season, had assumed his news conference power stance: arms stretched wide to grab the lectern in front of him.
It was a morning in August ahead of New England Patriots training camp practice. The head coach wore his trademark blue vest and white long-sleeved shirt.”What did you learn from counseling?” a reporter asked.Vrabel dodged the question about the scandal that rocked the NFL offseason. Instead, he turned his answer into a discussion about New England’s offensive line: “I just walked into that meeting room and said, ‘How do we improve? How do we improve our combination blocks?”He spoke for one minute and six seconds.
He never mentioned the word counseling.Vrabel was the feel-good story of last NFL season as he led the Patriots from 4-13 to the Super Bowl in his first year coaching his former team.But after the New York Post in April published photos of him and former Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini together at an adults-only resort, he became a fascination beyond just sports media, crossing over into the tabloids. The attention grew so intense that Vrabel stepped away from the team to seek counseling. Vrabel’s future was debated across sports media. NFL observers and personnel wondered aloud if the scrutiny on his personal life would grow into a problem on the field.As a new season of Super Bowl expectations begins, Vrabel’s close connection to players and his track record of success have allowed him to move beyond the offseason scandal in the locker room and organization.
At the same time, aftershocks continue to ripple through the league, from team front offices to the coaching ranks, in some cases changing how men who work in the league interact with women who report on it.ESPN spoke with league insiders, reporters, players and coaches, most of whom spoke only on the condition of anonymity, about the Patriots’ offseason and how the Vrabel-Russini situation impacted the league.One woman who covers the NFL said that an assistant coach said he wouldn’t want to be seen meeting with her because of the optics after the Vrabel scandal. Several women reporters and coaches told ESPN they are more cautious now when interacting with each other because they feel more closely watched. They worry about the league’s annual scouting combine in March, an event defined by late-night intermingling between team personnel and reporters at bars that helps define coverage for fans.The Patriots declined to make Vrabel available for an interview and declined to comment for this story. In New England, multiple Patriots personnel and players followed Vrabel’s lead, declining requests to discuss how they navigated the offseason, and those who did talk shared few details.
The team offered two players — running back Rhamondre Stevenson and safety Kevin Byard — to speak to ESPN. “We just tried to move on as fast as we can from that,” Stevenson said.At training camp, a group of players’ and coaches’ wives and girlfriends were watching practice when ESPN approached one coach’s wife to discuss the strange offseason. “I love chatting,” she said, “if it were any other topic.””We love this team, and the Pats stick together,” she continued. “That’s all I’ll say.” VRABEL RECEIVED A call from a New York Post reporter on Easter Sunday regarding the photos that showed him and Russini hugging and interlocking fingers at the resort, according to a person with knowledge of the call.Vrabel told Page Six that the photos “show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable.” According to a person who spoke to Vrabel at the time, the head coach had wanted to issue a stronger statement that defended Russini’s reporting ethics but settled on downplaying the photos.Russini resigned from The Athletic less than a week later. (The Athletic ultimately found that Russini’s relationship with Vrabel violated its newsroom standards but that her coverage did not show a clear bias.
She declined to comment for this story.) When Vrabel met reporters for the first time on April 21, he seemed chastened as he told the assembled media he’d “had some difficult conversations” with people that he cared about. He decided to miss the third day of the NFL draft to seek counseling. It was around that time that one team source noticed Vrabel was quieter than normal and not walking around the facility greeting everyone he passed as he normally would.The chaos continued over the following weeks as tabloids published more old photos of him together with Russini (they are both married to other people). Page Six even published photos of Vrabel in a Utah airport and reported about him and his wife having dinner.
By the end of May, Vrabel held another news conference at offseason workouts and reiterated his devotion to her. “I love Jen,” he told reporters.But if Vrabel appeared to be under siege, those inside the organization say the team had already moved on.ABOUT TWO WEEKS after the Post published the first photos, Patriots players and coaches gathered for a regularly scheduled meeting, their first since February’s Super Bowl loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Some had followed the scandal and seen the photos.Vrabel spoke in the same serious tone that he used when addressing the team after a loss, according to a Patriots source. Three players in the room said Vrabel told them he was responsible for creating a distraction and bringing negative attention to the team.
He said that challenges always come, but what matters is how people handle adversity when it hits, the players said.”He feels like he did wrong by us,” Stevenson said.Vrabel shared no details about his relationship with Russini, nor did he explain what he’d done to cause the distraction he acknowledged, according to five people in the room. Players asked no questions, and Vrabel quickly moved on to explain the team’s schedule for the day before the team broke off into smaller meetings.”None of the team was really even worried about specifics,” Stevenson said.Another Patriots player reached by ESPN, who requested anonymity to speak freely, offered a different perspective: “It’s difficult to explain to people outside the building how he approached it and how players took it,” he said. “Of course players care about [what happened]. Vrabel is a great leader.
Sometimes you have to mess up to become an even better leader.”But simply addressing the distraction was enough accountability, four players said. “His leadership was never tied to how he lived his personal life,” said the Patriots source, who noted that things would be different if Vrabel were a pastor responsible for shepherding souls and exemplifying morality.”Ultimately football players care about respect, they care about accountability, and they care if you can make them better,” the source said. “And if you can do those things, you can be the weirdest person or you can be a stone-cold kille
