New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft reportedly intervened to stop it New York Post By publishing photos of head coach Mike Vrabel and NFL reporter Diana Russini at a luxury resort in Sedona, Arizona, according to multiple sources.
New York PostPage Six published the photos and a related story on April 7. The images, taken two weekends ago, showed Vrabel and Russini – both married – holding hands, embracing and relaxing together at the ambient adults-only resort.
A source told weekly in touch That Kraft “intervened at The Post and put pressure on his superiors to try and kill the story before it was published.”
Why Robert Kraft Tried to Kill the Vrabel-Russini Scandal Story – and Failed
The source said the Post gave Vrabel more time than usual in the industry to respond and that Kraft used that extra time “to put pressure on the reporter and the newspaper.”
A crisis strategist was involved in the effort but failed to debunk the story.
Both Vrabel and Russini have said that the interaction was innocent and part of a larger group outing.
“The photos do not represent a group of six people who were hanging out during the day,” Russini told the Post. “Like most NFL reporters, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other locations.”
Vrabel described the photos as “completely innocent conversation and any suggestion otherwise is ridiculous.”
No one is really laughing at this point. At the very least, they knew how the images might have been obtained. If the conversation was harmless, why did the NFL owner make every effort to keep the images a secret? And Kraft wasn’t the only one who went into crisis mode.
According to an ESPN report, Russini, Vrabel and officials athletic Contacted a crisis communications expert hours before the story ran. They hoped to provide evidence that would either change the tone of the article or prevent it from being published altogether. Those efforts also did not succeed.
NFL reporter Diana Russini has resigned from The Athletic less than a week after an investigation into photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona hotel, a spokesperson for The New York Times has confirmed. https://t.co/PC5IlXypmN
– NBC News (@NBCNews) 14 April 2026
The incident has attracted significant attention across the sports media landscape, raising questions about the boundaries between coaches and the journalists covering them, as well as whether team owners attempt to influence media coverage.
Kraft, who has owned the Patriots since 1994 and led the franchise during two decades of dominance under former coach Bill Belichick, has not commented publicly on the matter.
As of Monday, Vrabel remains the head coach of the Patriots. The team has not released any statement on the alleged interference by ownership. In contrast, Rasini was forced to resign. athletic.
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