Patriots' Mike Vrabel Makes Statement Regarding Dianna Russini Story

Back on April 7, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and The Athletic NFL reporter Dianna Russini were seen in Arizona embracing and holding hands at an Arizona luxury hotel. Although Vrabel issued a statement to Page Six for the story calling the story "laughable," he wasn't made available to the media since then.

Russini had since resigned from his position with The Athletic. Today, after his name has been in national headlines for nearly a month, he spoke for the first time since the story broke.

After two Patriots players were originally scheduled to speak to reporters ahead of the NFL Draft, Vrabel said that he wanted to address the cameras before any of his players did. He opened up his press conference with a lengthy statement about the story, saying he spoke to his team about a "personal and private matter."

Here Is Vrabel's Full Statement:

"Let me first begin by saying thank you for your patience that you've shown in a personal and private matter for me and obviously everybody involved," Vrabel said. "I know that that's not easy for you and I respect that and I appreciate your efforts in doing so. I understand that I could have addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly, as we began our offseason program, which everyone is excited to be a part of.

Stacey (James, Patriots vice president of media relations) had mentioned the players' availability and it was never my intention to have them speak to you or address you before I did ... I also don't wanna take away from the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us as an organization, and the excitement and the joy that those players are going to have that we bring onto our football team. They're starting an amazing journey, one that should be celebrated as we welcome them to our team.

Feb 7, 2022; Westlake Village, CA, USA; ESPN reporter Dianna Russini at Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl LVI Opening Night at Oaks Christian High School. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

With that being said, I've had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the players, those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field that we have to make good decisions. That includes me, that starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction. Those are comments and questions that I've answered for the team, and with the team and we'll keep those private and to ourselves.

I care deeply about this football team and I'm excited to coach them. I also know that I'm going to attack each day with humility and focus, and what I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody—our fans, most importantly—will get the best version of me going forward."

Vrabel then took questions from reporters after the statement, including some that involved his conversations with his players and team ownership. He deflected to the statement previously given before answering plenty of questions about the upcoming draft and how he views the roster heading into it.

"I respect and I appreciate every single question, but I'm not going to be able to comment on anything as it relates to that," he said. "I appreciate your job and what you guys have to do, but you know, I have to make my comments and what I answer about our football team."

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