New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel spoke Tuesday for the first time since his initial statement addressing photos of him and NFL reporter Dianna Russini together at a resort in Arizona.
In that first statement, issued two weeks ago right after the photos were first published by the New York Post, Vrabel called his interaction with Russini "completely innocent" and said that "any suggestion otherwise is laughable."
Since then, however, Russini has resigned from her job at The Athletic amid an internal investigation. On Tuesday, Vrabel addressed the matter a bit more candidly, talking for nearly three minutes at the podium. He did not answer any questions.
"I want to first begin by saying thank you. Thank you for the patience you've shown in a personal and private matter for me, and obviously everybody involved," Vrabel began. "I know that that's not easy for you, and I respect that, and I appreciate your efforts in doing so. I understand I could have addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me I have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly, as we began our offseason program, which everyone is excited to be a part of.
"Stacey [James] has mentioned the players' availability, and it was never my intention to have them speak to you or address you before I did. And so I asked him to come today and to talk to you. I also don't want to take away from the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us, our organization, and the excitement and the joy those players are going to have that we bring onto our football team. They're starting an amazing journey, one that should be celebrated as we welcome them onto our team.
"With that being said, I've had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players. Those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me. That starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction.
"Those are comments and questions that I've answered for the team and with the team, and we'll keep those private and to ourselves. I care deeply about this football team, and I'm excited to coach them. I also know that I'm going to attack each day with humility and focus. And what I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. And that's what I know, and I'm excited to do that. But I wanted to just address this and thank you for your patience in dealing with a private and personal matter."
Vrabel did not mention Russini by name.
The Patriots began their voluntary offseason program on Monday, with some players scheduled to meet with the media on Tuesday. There was not a set day or time for Vrabel to talk. As Vrabel alluded to, talking on Tuesday helps avoid having this overshadow anything draft-related later this week if Vrabel had waited until then to talk.
