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The Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini controversy seems to take a new turn each day, and The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill doesn’t think that’s about to change.
“The Patriots are fooling themselves if they think this story is just going to go away,” Hill, 50, wrote via X on Thursday, May 7. “Now that it’s crossed over into tabloid territory, they’re not only going to be digging through the crates, but following his every move from here on out.”
Hill’s comment came as a quote of a video TMZ Sports posted the same day, appearing to show Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, meeting up for an excursion on a private boat in 2021.
Before joining The Atlantic in 2018, Hill spent more than a decade working for ESPN, including a stint as a SportsCenter anchor.
TMZ first reported that Vrabel and Russini had rented the private boat on Wednesday, May 6, later noting that the two took precautions to avoid photos of them together becoming public.
As the scandal has continued to unfold, dating back to April 7 when Page Six published the first images of Vrabel and Russini together, the two have been hesitant to divulge specifics about their relationship. Both are married to other people and Russini was pregnant with her first son, whom she shares with husband Kevin Goldschmidt, when the boat trip occurred.
Russini resigned as The Athletic’s senior NFL insider on April 14, while Vrabel issued a public statement before the NFL Draft saying he would miss the final day of the event to attend counseling as he focuses on his family.
“Vrabel has often spoken passionately about accountability being a core principle of his football team, but in providing vague answers about his relationship with Russini, he seems to be dodging what he’s preaching,” Hill wrote in a column published Monday, May 4.
She continued, “Russini’s career might be over. And perhaps that’s appropriate: Her job is different than his, including the professional ethics and standards required to perform it. Meanwhile, Vrabel may be allowed to move on to the new NFL season, and in the process offer all the right platitudes about getting back to business.”
As she noted, that doesn’t mean the scandal will go away. He has made limited public appearances since the news broke, but as the season draws closer, his media obligations are going to increase.
“Even if Vrabel stays with the team, things won’t be business as usual anytime soon,” Hill wrote. “He now faces a new level of scrutiny on top of the demands and pressure that automatically come with trying to be a winning NFL coach. It’s a new reality that he completely earned.”
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