The first high-ranking member of the New England Patriots has now addressed Mike Vrabel's situation − sort of − nearly a week after photos of the club's head coach with NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort were published by the New York Post.
Asked during the team's April 13 pre-draft news conference about Vrabel's involvement with player evaluations over the past week, Pats vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said: "Very involved. Business as usual. He’s been in there with us a little more than he was last year."
And that was pretty much it.
Wolf didn't talk about Vrabel before he began taking questions, then only got one remotely acknowledging the controversy his coach currently finds swirling about him. Wolf mentioned Vrabel a handful of times but only in the context of his role in evaluating draft prospects for the reigning AFC champions.
Vrabel, who addressed reporters the week prior to last year's draft, did not do so Monday but was never scheduled to, either. He and Wolf met with the national media at this year's annual scouting combine. Vrabel also spoke to reporters at the NFL's annual league meeting in Phoenix on March 31, just days after he'd been photographed at a posh Arizona getaway with Russini, The Athletic's NFL insider, but before those pictures of them surfaced in The Post.
