The Athletic released findings from its investigation into former senior insider Dianna Russini on Thursday. The investigation was sparked by a highly-publicized romantic scandal between Russini and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Russini resigned from The Athletic amid its investigation.
"Russini should have disclosed to The Athletic the nature of her relationship with Vrabel to allow editors to assess the kinds of stories on which she should have been working, if any. She did not," Mike Semel wrote in his "overall findings" section of the investigation. "The vast majority of Russini’s work for The Athletic had nothing to do with Vrabel, the teams he was coaching or the players the team was pursuing," Semel continued.
"Of the 903 pieces she wrote, contributed to or where her reporting was mentioned, about 46 mentioned Vrabel or his team (about 5 percent)." Vrabel was asked about these findings during a press conference on Thursday. "We’re moved on and focused on Seattle and focused on the Patriots and focused on getting better this week.” The Patriots will begin their 2026 regular-season schedule with a Week 1 Super Bowl rematch against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 9.
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