Dianna Russini Reportedly Planning To Tell Her Side Of The Story As NFL Return Approaches

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

Dianna Russini is reportedly moving closer to a return to sports media.

The former Athletic NFL insider resigned in April after photos of her with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel surfaced.

A source now says she is expected to return to work this NFL season, Page Six revealed on Thursday.

This update builds on earlier reporting. Page Six’s Lucas Wildman first reported on Sept. 8 that she would return to work.

“Dianna Russini will return to work this NFL season, but not without addressing the elephant in the room first,” he wrote, according to Heavy.

Russini also plans to explain herself in her own words. Her plan to break her silence will reportedly come to fruition once she lands her next job. She declined all interview requests during the scandal.

Barstool Sports Emerges As The Lead Candidate To Hire Dianna Russini

Front Office Sports reported on Sept. 3 that Russini has discussed several options. Those include a pro football insider role and a personality role. “The lead candidate to hire Russini, I’m hearing, is Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports,” reporter Michael McCarthy wrote for FOS.

Fox Sports Radio host Jon Weiner has also offered her a spot.

Portnoy has already weighed in. “No-brainer, if she wanted to work here, we’d do it,” he told Us Weekly in June, according to Heavy. Russini has appeared on Pardon My Take several times, including during the 2026 NFL Combine.

She also hinted at a career shift in June. In her texts to a Times reporter, she called herself a “former journalist.”

Meanwhile, no deal has been announced. The new Page Six report does not name an employer.

The Athletic’s Review Found Her Relationship Broke Company Standards

Russini, 43, joined The Athletic in August 2023 after eight years at ESPN. She resigned shortly after Page Six published photos of her and Vrabel. In her letter, she wrote that she did not leave “because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode.”

The Athletic’s five-month investigation then reached a verdict on Sept. 3, after reviewing about 1,100 of her pieces. It found a “clear violation” of company standards because she never disclosed the relationship, Front Office Sports reported. However, the review found “scant evidence” that the relationship affected her coverage of Vrabel, the Patriots or the Titans. The Athletic’s investigation results also criticized how she handled the situation.

Both Russini and Vrabel initially called the photos innocent.

Her next employer will face plenty of attention. Barrett Media wrote that Russini’s side of the story “will be a giant spotlight for whomever her next employer is.”