New England Patriots

The Athletic released the findings of its internal investigation into former reporter Dianna Russini on Thursday.

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Over the course of around five months, the media company has been investigating Russini’s relationship with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and how it impacted her NFL coverage for The Athletic. 

The Athletic found that Russini’s relationship with Vrabel «was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards.»

Here’s what to know about the results of The Athletic’s investigation into the Russini-Vrabel situation that unfolded this NFL offseason.

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The Athletic Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel investigation

After Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, with reports and photos continually depicting a potential romantic relationship with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, The Athletic opened an internal investigation into her reporting for the company and whether it violated newsroom standards.

On Thursday, around a week before the 2026 NFL season, The Athletic released its findings, written by the company’s Editorial Director For Standards and Quality, Mike Semel. It found that «Russini’s relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards,» though she showed no clear bias in her reporting due to that relationship.

The company said in its investigation, it reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos published with Russini’s byline, plus 204 podcast episodes and 25 off-platform appearances from Russini and interviews with various employees. 

«Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed,» the company said in its release. «The photographs published by Page Six on April 7 and April 23 and by TMZ on April 23 indicate a relationship that puts The Athletic’s credibility in jeopardy and gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.»

The Athletic also provided a timeline of Russini’s exit, sharing that she first reached out to company executives on Apr. 7 to inform them of an impending article that «would suggest a romantic relationship between Russini and Mike Vrabel.» She «acknowledged a close relationship with Vrabel» but emphasized that the relationship was «strictly professional,» and The Athletic initially supported her «as it began an internal investigation of the allegations.»

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It was during that investigation that Russini resigned on Apr. 14, the report said, and the company ended its investigation into her personal conduct, but continued focusing on her journalism.

The overall finding of the report was that «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.» Semel also wrote that the investigation did not find «a clear link to conclude that Russini used her platform to help promote Vrabel or help his teams during her time at The Athletic,» but there were examples «of Russini writing glowingly of Vrabel that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable.»

«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 wrote. «In interviews with editors and reporters with whom she worked most closely, it was clear Russini was sourced up around the NFL, not just with Vrabel or the Patriots.»

Semel wrote that there were no findings of inaccuracies in Russini’s reporting outside of a 2023 story that said Vrabel’s coaching job in Tennessee was safe less than two months before he was fired, with «no other media [coming] out as strongly about Vrabel’s job security» at the time.

On top of adding editor’s notes to two pieces of content from The Athletic, the report suggested the company add a meeting with the standards editor as part of its onboarding process, clarifying specific guidelines for conflict of interest, and enforcing the company’s sourcing standards.

Russini said in a statement to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand on Thursday that she stands «by any and all reporting [she’s] ever done in [her] career.”

Why did The Athletic fire Dianna Russini?

Russini resigned from The Athletic in April following the release of photographs of her and Vrabel at a hotel resort in Arizona, with speculation of an extramarital affair between the two. Russini denied those rumors and claimed the photos were «misleading and lack essential context.»

After The Athletic began an internal investigation into her conduct, she resigned on Apr. 14. Around a week later, Page Six released additional photographs appearing to show Russini and Vrabel kissing at a bar in New York City from 2020.

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