New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel declared his love for his wife Jen and their two adult sons while speaking to the media on Wednesday for the first time since stepping away from the team for family counseling.
‘I appreciate my family, I love Jen, I love the boys’ Vrabel said when asked about his work-life balance – something he’s been addressing amid the ongoing Dianna Russini scandal.
The 50-year-old did not brief reporters at the Patriots’ recent rookie minicamp and has not spoken on the record since last month’s NFL Draft, when he finally addressed rumors of an affair with Russini. Vrabel would later take leave from the Patriots on Day 3 of the draft to attend a counseling session with his family.
Asked if he could conceivably take another leave of absence to address his family issues, Vrabel sidestepped the question to insist he’s only focused on ‘today.’
‘I’m gonna be out there in full force,’ Vrabel said before attending the Patriots’ organized team activities (OTAs).
Controversy erupted in March when the New York Post published suggestive photos of Vrabel fraternizing with Russini at a $2,500-a-night, adults-only retreat in Arizona.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel declared his love for his wife Jen and their two adult sons while speaking to the media on Wednesday before organized team activities
Vrabel has been married to his wife, Jen, for over two decades and they have two children
Russini and Vrabel have known each other since her time at ESPN and his with the Titans
The two are married to other people, and while Russini has denied any wrongdoing and stood by her reporting on Vrabel, she was placed on leave at The Athletic before ultimately submitting her resignation to the website’s parent company, The New York Times.
In April, the Post followed with pictures purportedly showing Vrabel and Russini kissing at a bar in Manhattan in March of 2020. Russini would later marry Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt in September of that year and has since given birth to two sons.
Speaking before the first round of the NFL Draft, Vrabel did admit he ’caused a distraction to the people that I care most about, my family, this football team, the organization and our fans.
‘My previous actions don’t meet the standard that I hold myself to,’ he said on April 23. ‘They don’t. What I believe is best for the two most important things in my life, my family and this football team, is for us to take the necessary steps to work together and to give them what I told them I’d give them, which the best version of me, and that’s what we’re going to do.’
Vrabel stepped away from the team during the third day of the draft to attend a counseling session, he said, because he was going to prioritize his family over his job.
‘My priorities are my family and this football team – and in that order – and there’s a balance there that I am going to create. My family needs me this weekend and that’s where I’ll be.’
Other than describing the Post’s story as ‘laughable’ in an initial brief statement, Vrabel had been silent on the matter until ostensibly making himself accountable to the public his pre-draft press conference.
Asked about his initial ‘laughable’ comment, Vrabel admitted in April: ‘I think that was, you know, always an attempt to protect your family and I would never be dismissive.
‘But I think my family and this football team are the most important thing, and that’s what I plan to do, and I’m excited about the challenge with both of those things.’
