Dianna Russini was The Athletic’s senior insider for the NFL from August 2023 until April 2026. During that time, her work appeared on the site and app, on audio and video. She also made appearances on behalf of The Athletic off platform.On April 7, 2026, Russini reached out to executives at The Athletic and The New York Times Company to tell them of an impending Page Six (New York Post) article that would suggest a romantic relationship between Russini and Mike Vrabel, the head coach of the New England Patriots. The story would be based on photographs of the pair together, taken at a Sedona, Ariz., resort, and the photos would accompany the piece. Russini acknowledged a close relationship with Vrabel, but stressed that it was strictly professional. Russini also said there would be no other questionable pictures of her and Vrabel because she had never done anything inappropriate.The Athletic publicly supported Russini as it began an internal investigation of the allegations. During that investigation, Russini resigned from The Athletic and was released from her contract on April 14, 2026. The Athletic ended its investigation into Russini’s personal conduct on that day because she was no longer employed by the company, but continued its investigation into her journalism because nothing is more important to The Athletic than its credibility and reader trust.This is a report of that inquiry.MethodologyFor the purposes of this report, I reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos published on The Athletic site and app that carried Russini’s byline, co-byline, a contributor line or a mention of her reporting. I reviewed 204 episodes of the Scoop City podcast, produced by The Athletic and co-hosted by Russini. I watched or listened to about 25 off-platform appearances or interviews for which she was in some way representing The Athletic. I interviewed approximately 14 Athletic staffers who had worked most closely with Russini at the publication. I also reviewed about 75 stories to evaluate how The Athletic’s coverage of certain events involving Vrabel or his teams compared to coverage in other publications.Reason for This InquiryRussini’s relationship with Vrabel was in clear violation of The Athletic’s standards. Regardless of whether the relationship was romantic, it was a breach and should have been disclosed.Specifically, when it comes to The Athletic’s standards, Russini was noncompliant:“When reporting and writing stories we do not have an agenda and it is important that our readers understand that. If our readers question our adherence to that basic tenet of journalism, our credibility will be at stake. To maintain the highest form of authority we should avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest and reveal those sources or affiliations that may put into question our ability to be credible.”This standard of conduct is published both internally on The Athletic’s playbook (employee intranet) and externally on the site for Athletic readers.The photographs published by Page Six on April 7 and April 23 and by TMZ on April 23 indicate a relationship that puts The Athletic’s credibility in jeopardy and gives the appearance of a conflict of interest.It also is a basic tenet of journalism to preserve detachment from the people we cover. We neither completed an investigation nor reached any conclusion about the nature of the full relationship between Vrabel and Russini, but the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy.Additionally, when first confronted with the photos by The New York Post, Russini waited two days before telling her editors and managers. She then told a story to explain the photos that did not align with facts, raising issues of trust.We launched this probe to assess whether her work for The Athletic was accurate and unbiased and that her access to Vrabel did not unduly affect The Athletic’s journalism.Overall FindingsRussini should have disclosed to The Athletic the nature of her relationship with Vrabel to allow editors to assess the kinds of stories on which she should have been working, if any. She did not.The vast majority of Russini’s work for The Athletic had nothing to do with Vrabel, the teams he was coaching or the players the team was pursuing. Of the 903 pieces she wrote, contributed to or where her reporting was mentioned, about 46 mentioned Vrabel or his team (about 5 percent). Of those 46 pieces, all but about 15 were simply transactional (e.g., Keion White traded; Josh McDaniel hired as offensive coordinator; Jabrill Peppers cut) or associated with a particular game (mostly the Super Bowl or AFC Championship). All of those were co-bylined with other reporters. None of those scooped other publications, as they were reports coming from the team or stories that several publications reported simultaneously.Of the 15 or so pieces that did not fit into the category of “transactional” or game-related, most of those were mentions in Russini’s “What I’m Hearing” columns about coaching candidates. Other publications similarly reported Vrabel’s availability and desirability during the year between his firing from the Tennessee Titans and his hiring by the New England Patriots.