Rusty Weiss
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly intervened to prevent the New York Post from publishing photos showing head coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini at a luxury resort in Sedona, Arizona, according to multiple sources.
The New York Post’s Page Six published the photos and accompanying story back on April 7th. The images, taken two weekends earlier, showed Vrabel and Russini — both married — holding hands, embracing, and relaxing together at the adults-only Ambiente resort.
A source told In Touch Weekly that Kraft “intervened and had his honchos pressure The Post before they published and tried to kill the story.”
Why Robert Kraft Tried — and Failed — to Kill the Vrabel-Russini Scandal Story
The source added that the Post gave Vrabel a longer window to respond than is typical in the industry, and Kraft used that extra time “to put pressure on the reporter and the newspaper.”
A crisis strategist was involved in the effort but was unsuccessful in squashing the story.
Vrabel and Russini have both maintained that the interaction was innocent and part of a larger group outing.
“The photos don’t represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day,” Russini told the Post. “Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.”
Vrabel described the photos as showing “a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable.”
Nobody is really laughing at this point. At the very least, they knew how the images would have been received. If the interactions were harmless, why was there an all-out effort by an NFL owner to keep the images under wraps? And Kraft wasn’t the only one who went into crisis mode.
According to an ESPN report, Russini, Vrabel, and executives at The Athletic contacted a crisis communications expert in the hours before the story ran. They hoped to provide evidence that would either change the article’s tone or prevent it from being published altogether. Those efforts also did not succeed.
NFL reporter Dianna Russini has resigned from The Athletic less than a week after photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona hotel drew scrutiny, a spokesperson for the New York Times confirms. https://t.co/PC5IlXypmN
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 14, 2026
The incident has drawn significant attention across the sports media landscape, raising questions about the boundaries between coaches and the reporters who cover them, as well as the influence team owners may attempt to exert over media coverage.
Kraft, who has owned the Patriots since 1994 and led the franchise through two decades of dominance under former coach Bill Belichick, has not publicly commented on the matter.
As of Monday, Vrabel remains the Patriots’ head coach. The team has not issued a statement on the reported intervention by ownership. Russini, by contrast, was forced to resign from The Athletic.
