As NFL teams move closer to training camp and the focus slowly shifts back to football, one offseason scandal refuses to die down. New claims about New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and former NFL insider Dianna Russini have surfaced, after a high-profile resignation and months of scrutiny across league circles.
This time, the latest allegation comes from former USA Today NFL writer Crissy Froyd, who claims the relationship between Vrabel and Russini stretches back far longer than previously discussed publicly.
Crissy Froyd Claims Mike Vrabel And Dianna Russini Were Together For Years
During an appearance on The Howard Eskin Show, Froyd was asked how long people around the league may have known about the reported relationship. She pointed to a much longer timeline and said, “At least 10 years,” Froyd replied. “At least 10 years. I would assume… for what I know between her and him and certainly for what I know about her, at least 10 years.”
Froyd then questioned how the situation remained unaddressed for so long despite what she believes was common knowledge. “The biggest thing to me was the way that everyone knew and no one did anything about it, and it was obvious. To me, the worst part of it was… I would almost feel bad for her if she, like, fell in love for six months and made these horrible mistakes and she owned up to it ‘cause everybody makes mistakes in their lifetime… But you don’t make the same mistake for six years, 10 years, anything of that longevity whatsoever.”
Her comments arrive months after photographs published by Page Six showed Vrabel and Russini together at an adults-only resort in Arizona. More photos reportedly showed the pair kissing at a New York City bar in March 2020. TMZ also published video of the two on a private boat trip in Tennessee in 2021.
Why The Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini Story Still Matters
The fallout from the controversy has already been huge. Russini resigned from The Athletic in April while The New York Times continued its investigation into her reporting.
Froyd, who has repeatedly spoken about the issue publicly, also criticised Russini’s since-deleted social media presence. “The way that she had deleted her Twitter account and it appeared, at least the way I took it and the way that most people took it, that she had been like covertly bragging on that. I mean, it’s disgusting.”