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Mike Vrabel and AJ Brown were winning Tuesday because the long-rumored trade that brought them together was finally completed. Brown shook off his recent discontent with the Philadelphia Eagles, while Vrabel spoke easily and intelligently about how his Super Bowl team was improving.
It was a beautiful victory lap for everyone.
Except Dianna Russini.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel celebrates after the AFC championship game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field At Mile High in Denver, Colorado, on January 25, 2026. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
MIKE VRABEL BREAKS HIS SILENCE ON THE DIANNA RUSSINI CONTROVERSY
Yes, it’s as much about her as it is about Vrabel and Brown. Those three names will be linked for a long time in NFL circles based on what happened since September 2025, and then definitely during this offseason that was about, well, the relationship between the coach and the reporter.
If you are not up to date with that relationship, you have homework. And you’ll probably understand it easily because the source material is everywhere: the photos of Russini and Vrabel together, the denials of anything unpleasant between two married people, the collapse of the professional friendship narrative, and everything afterward.
So, for the uninitiated, you are excused. Enter now and read the first chapters of the soap opera. Because this could be the end of the saga, barring a major surprise.
And let me cut to that end:
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown walks on the field during an NFL training camp in Philadelphia on July 29, 2025. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)
Brown wins. In fact, he’s completely unscathed and happy as a clam with a new team he grew up adoring.
Vrabel also wins. Yes, he suffered some blows, suffered some humiliating moments in front of journalists and had some family conversations that he described as “very difficult,” but in the end he is no worse.
And then there is Russini. She lost. In a big way.
FORMER NFL REPORTER MICHELE TAFOYA OPINIONS WHY RUSSINI’S CREDIBILITY IS GONE
It was sad to see Vrabel’s press because it was Russini who first reported that teams were calling the Eagles about Brown in September 2025. She first reported that the Eagles were not interested in trading Brown.
Russini called him out when he told everyone the Patriots were interested (so were the Los Angeles Rams, by the way). And he was right again when he said earlier this year that Brown wouldn’t be traded around the start of the league year in March, but to be careful around June.
She was totally accurate on practically everything.
Dianna Russini, left, and Mike Vrabel, right, are shown in a split composite image showing Russini with an ESPN microphone and Vrabel on the Titans bench wearing a headset. (Image images)
But everyone has assumed that all of that information came from her relationship with Vrabel. All that inner work came from other supposed inner work.
Russini’s information was excellent, but the way she apparently obtained it ultimately led her to resign from The Athletic. And tarnishing his professional reputation.
Losses.
MIKE VRABEL LEAVES INDEFINITELY TO SEEK COUNSELING
Vrabel? He seemed very good on Tuesday.
The hardest thing he had to do was answer a question about Brown’s obvious discontent last year in Philadelphia.
“I don’t know what happened,” Vrabel said. “I’m not trying to figure out what happened in Philadelphia. I’m trying to focus on what’s going to happen here and try to get him used to what we do and how we do it.”
Vrabel, during this press conference, congratulated a journalist for winning a marathon. He thanked executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf for making the trade possible. And he answered a lot of questions about football.
Dianna Russini attends the 2026 Fanatics Super Bowl Party at Pier 48 in San Francisco, California on February 7, 2026. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
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There was not a single question about whether he leaked details to Russini for months about where the conversations between the Patriots and Eagles were. Not a single question about how their family “counseling” sessions are going or whether their marriage is certain to survive.
There was nothing uncomfortable because it seems that the local media lost interest or curiosity one day when the story was revealed that Russini beat them for months.
And the thing is, if Vrabel didn’t have to sweat this time, he’s probably in the clear. I’m not likely to get any tough questions about the whole thing again (pardon the pun) unless more facts come to light that drag the issue out of the grave.
So, yes, Mike Vrabel has survived. He has won.
FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO
