The 2026 NFL Draft is a week and a half away, but New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel won’t be discussing it with reporters. While that might seem odd − or perhaps expected given the controversy he currently finds himself embroiled in − Vrabel is not ducking a previously scheduled obligation.
An offseason team schedule obtained by USA TODAY Sports and dated March 11 details that executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf was always scheduled to conduct the team’s pre-draft press conference on April 13. That is a change from 2025, when Vrabel, not Wolf, held forth the week before the draft. However it’s not an organizational pivot in the aftermath of recently published photos of Vrabel at an Arizona resort last month with Dianna Russini, The Athletic’s NFL insider.
Feb 25, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The photos show Vrabel and Russini in bathing suits poolside as well as hugging on a rooftop at the Ambiente in Sedona, Arizona, days before the NFL’s annual league meeting, which took place in Phoenix from March 29 through April 1. Both Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, are married to other people with whom they have children.
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“These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Vrabel told the New York Post, which published the photos, in a statement last week.
“This doesn’t deserve any further response.”
Though the Patriots have not announced who will speak once the draft starts on April 23, Vrabel, Wolf and VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden all addressed reporters at various points during last year’s draft. Vrabel and Wolf both met with the national media in February at this year’s annual scouting combine. Vrabel spoke after the first round of the draft in 2025 and may well do so again this year − unless, for instance, the Patriots, who hold the 31st overall selection after reaching Super Bowl 60, trade out of Round 1 entirely.
Russini, who worked for ESPN prior to joining The Athletic in 2023, covered Vrabel while he was the coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018 to 2023. Though she initially received a statement of support from The Athletic (it is now effectively the New York Times’ sports section), her conduct is now being investigated by The Times. She will not be reporting on the NFL in the interim.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Vrabel won’t talk before NFL draft amid Dianna Russini controversy
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