New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini allegedly joined forces again just days after they were photographed together at a luxury resort in Arizona.
During the NFL’s annual league meetings at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel on March 31, fellow NFL insider Jay Glazer hosted a group of 28 of the league’s 32 head coaches at one of the luxury resort’s pools.
On that same day, journalist Pablo Torre cited “two sources with direct knowledge” who told him Russini, 43, instead decided to organize her own gathering.
“Across the way of that same pool was Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel,” Torre said Friday, April 24, on his “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast. “And what she was doing, I am told, was effectively trying to host a rival office Christmas party.”
Torre, 40, reported it was Russini, Vrabel, 50, and “a few other head coaches” mingling together amongst the cabanas, though he could not confirm which of the three other NFL coaches accepted the invite to Russini’s meet-up.
Glazer, 56, shared a video via social media on the day of his party, which showed an assemblage of coaches including the Broncos’ Sean Payton, the Rams’ Sean McVay, the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni and the Packers’ Matt LaFleur.
“I can tell you part of what the game is that Dianna Russini was trying to play was, ‘What if I do the thing that Jay Glazer does quite successfully? How can I build my own party and build a network of sources?’ Because no one has ever denied or objected to the ambition of Dianna Russini trying to compete at this insane, crazy-making job of ‘insider.’”
Russini and Vrabel linking up apart from the rest of the group didn’t exactly come as a surprise to the NFL community, according to Torre.
“All of these head coaches across the pool and their wives, I am told, started talking about Vrabel and Russini,” he alleged. “This was days before the photos broke in the New York Post, which is to say 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.”
Luxury Handbag Shopping has reached out to Russini and Vrabel for comment.
Three days before the competing pool parties, Russini and Vrabel — who are both married to other people — were photographed sunbathing together, sharing a hotel and interlocking their fingers at a separate Arizona resort. The pictures were published by the New York Post’s Page Six on April 7.
While both Russini and Vrabel immediately issued statements saying their relationship was strictly platonic, more photos of the pair have emerged that suggest otherwise. In pictures published by Page Six on Thursday, April 23, the pair can be seen kissing at a New York City bar in 2020.
Vrabel revealed plans to enter counseling in a statement to ESPN on Thursday morning.
The head coach spoke to reporters at Gillette Stadium on Thursday evening, right before the start of the 2026 NFL Draft.
“I understand that there are questions. I take accountability for my actions and the actions that caused a distraction to the people that I care most about, my family, this football team, the organization, and our fans,” he said. “My previous actions don’t meet the standard that I hold myself to. They don’t.”
