New England Patriots
“The New England Patriots totally assist Mike Vrabel’s choice to prioritize his household first, in addition to his personal well-being.”
As Mike Vrabel plans to skip the third and final day of the 2026 NFL Draft to hunt counseling, the Patriots launched a press release on Thursday in assist of their head coach.
Vrabel’s plan to be away from the workforce on Saturday comes amid continued fallout from the New York Post publishing photos of the Patriots head coach with former The Athletic NFL insider Dianna Russini.
Right here is the total Patriots assertion, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter:
“The New England Patriots totally assist Mike Vrabel’s choice to prioritize his household first, in addition to his personal well-being. Mike has been open with us about his dedication to being the very best model of himself for his household, this workforce and our followers, and we respect the steps he’s taking to observe via on that dedication.
“We’re assured within the management and communication Mike has established with our personnel workers all through this pre-draft course of. Whereas he is not going to be current on the facility on Saturday, we all know the draft evaluations are full and Eliot Wolf and his personnel workers are ready to execute our draft as deliberate this weekend.”
Vrabel has drawn loads of headlines over the previous few weeks after Web page Six — the gossip arm of the New York Put up — first revealed the photographs of him and Russini.
Earlier this month, the New York Put up posted photographs of the duo — who’re each married to different individuals — holding palms and embracing at a resort in Sedona, Arizona.
On Thursday afternoon, the New York Put up published additional photos of Vrabel and Russini together, this time at a New York Metropolis bar in March 2020.
The brand new photographs present Vrabel — then head coach of the Tennessee Titans — and Russini, an ESPN NFL reporter on the time, showing to kiss as they sat on the bar.
In accordance with the New York Put up, “Web page Six contacted each Vrabel and Russini on Wednesday afternoon relating to the photographs. Whereas neither commented for this story, Vrabel informed ESPN simply hours later that he’ll miss day three of the NFL draft to enter counseling.”
On Tuesday, Vrabel addressed the media for the first time since these photographs of him and Russini had been launched. As a part of his prolonged assertion to the media, Vrabel acknowledged that he was going via a “private and personal matter” and had already gone via some “tough conversations” along with his household, workforce, and lots of others over the previous few weeks.
Final week, Russini announced her resignation from The Athletic.
Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft figures to be a busy one for the Patriots, as eight of New England’s 11 draft picks are in Rounds 4-7.
New England at the moment has two fourth-round picks (No. 125, No. 131), one fifth-round choose (No. 171), 4 sixth-round picks (No. 191, No. 198, No. 202, No. 212), and one seventh-round choose (No. 247).
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