Dianna Russini May Have Been Handed The Ultimate Punishment Amid NFL Return Rumors Following Mike Vrabel Scandal
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Dianna Russini is trying to get back on the NFL beat. A new report says one high-profile door already closed. The Daily Mail wrote that she appears to have cast her last vote in the Associated Press NFL Honors poll.
Russini held one of those 50 media ballots since 2022. She resigned from The Athletic after photos of her and Patriots coach Mike Vrabel went public at the end of March. Both are married with children, yet they denied an affair after images from an adults-only Arizona resort spread online.
More photos later showed them kissing at a New York bar in 2020, which led The Athletic to open an investigation. Russini left a job that paid about $800,000 a year. Vrabel skipped the last day of the draft to attend counseling.
Dianna Russini AP Ballot Becomes The Next Fight After Vrabel Photos
Podcaster Tony Farmer called on the AP to release old ballots. Vrabel won Coach of the Year in 2025. Farmer wanted to see whether Russini voted for him.
“The Associated Press will not release its ballots so we can see if the woman on the left voted for the man on the right for Coach of the Year,” he wrote.
He added that leaving Ben Johnson off a ballot, after Johnson got 29 first-place votes as assistant coach of the year, “would be really tough to explain.”
The Associated Press will not release its ballots so we can see if the woman on the left voted for the man on the right for Coach of the Year, and see who she voted for in slots 2-5.
If Russini left Ben Johnson off her ballot like she did the prior year [Assistant COTY] when he… pic.twitter.com/Hq2ytdZQnm
— Tony Farmer (@Tonysmarkettips) August 4, 2026
Aaron Rodgers used The Pat McAfee Show to go after ESPN for staying quiet. He tied the issue to awards power.
“If that person is also an MVP voter and a Coach of the Year voter, remember when I won MVP in 2021… That’s real life. How are we allowing these people to have an impact?”
The Mail asked the AP if Russini would vote this year. A spokesperson did not give a direct yes or no.
“The makeup of AP’s NFL awards voting panel changes regularly as sports reporters change positions and organizations, and this year is no different.”
Dianna Russini Still Wants To Speak On Her Own Terms
Meanwhile, Russini is weighing offers to return and plans to tell her side. The 43-year-old has turned down a wave of interviews. She wants to speak “on her own terms.”
The Athletic published its probe earlier this month. It found her “noncompliant” with company standards. It also said there was limited evidence of biased reporting.
“Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed,” the outlet said.
Standards editor Mike Semel found no clear link that she used her platform to boost Vrabel or his teams. He did flag writing that now looks “awkward or even uncomfortable.”
