Patriots franchise quarterback Drake Maye told reporters Wednesday that he isn’t worried about head coach Mike Vrabel’s relationship with former NFL insider Dianna Russini becoming a distraction for the team. He might want to rethink those comments. On Wednesday evening, TMZ reported that Vrabel and Russini booked a private boat trip in June 2021, while Vrabel was still head coach of the Tennessee Titans and while Russini would have been pregnant with her first child. According to TMZ’s story, Russini and Vrabel were the only people on board during the two-to-three-hour trip, and were cautious about photos.
This boat trip is just the latest piece of evidence indicating that Russini and Vrabel carried on a romantic relationship for many years. The publication of photos of them getting cozy at an adults-only resort in Sedona, Ariz. in 2026 led to more sources digging up photos of them smooching in a bar in 2020 and gambling at a casino in 2024.
The irony of the situation is that each of these minor updates about the length and depth of their relationship are only made newsworthy by the fact that Russini and Vrabel lied about their relationship when the story first broke, and have since refused to talk about it at all. Vrabel attempted the frankly silly maneuver of announcing that he’ll be going to therapy without saying exactly why, and Russini has been silent since resigning from her job at The Athletic. All that silence leaves behind questions that are being answered piecemeal by TMZ, Page Six, and the like.
Anyway, I’m sure Drake Maye is going to love it when every six weeks during the season, he’s asked to address the publication of yet another photo of his head coach playing mini-golf with a woman who is not his wife.
Rebecka Menjivar
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