Ian Rapoport Drops a Giant Truth Bomb On The Dianna Russini Scandal — And He’s Not Happy About It
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Ian Rapoport picked a side amid the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini saga sometime ago. And the NFL Network journalist is now speaking up in defense of his fellow insider.
Rapoport, a reputable football newsbreaker, was recently on the ‘Between the Tackles’ podcast with New York Jets beat writer Manish Mehta. He sounded off on the talk regarding Russini, who has been heavily criticized since the photos of her hotel rendezvous with Vrabel surfaced online.
The photos ultimately resulted in Russini resigning from The Athletic. And, since then, a number of other scoops have dropped.
Rapoport suggested that most of Russini’s critics don’t actually know what an insider actually does.
“I have been for sure frustrated at a lot of people talking about what they think the job of insider is without actually knowing,” he said.“That’s been frustrating to me over the last month or so.”
“The job is still the same,” Rapoport added. “It’s finding out news. It’s touching base and talking to all parties, as many as you can. It’s confirming it, making sure that it comes out in the most accurate and truthful way possible, while also doing it as fast as possible and giving the reader or viewer as much information as you can.”
Is Ian Rapoport’s Frustration Misplaced?
It’s thought that there’s more to the off-book relationship between Vrabel and Russini. Some suggest that Russini could have used her influence to get the Tennessee Titans a better deal when they traded for Julio Jones.
It’s also thought that she may have played a role in Vrabel winning the Coach of the Year award. Of course, it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t deserved.
On a wider scale, the scandal has placed all of NFL reporting under the microscope. There are more calls to probe their personal relationships since the NY Post bombshell.
No one has suggested that every other reporter out there is sleeping with an NFL coach or team high-up. However, there is speculation regarding their ties to team sources and whether they manipulate them to enhance their own reputations, among other things.
