{"id":8033,"date":"2026-09-03T23:08:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T23:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8033"},"modified":"2026-09-03T23:08:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T23:08:59","slug":"dianna-russini-plotting-media-return-after-athletic-probe-one-outlet-is-a-lead-candidate-to-hire-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8033","title":{"rendered":"Dianna Russini plotting media return after Athletic probe \u2014 one outlet is a lead candidate to hire her"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Dianna Russini might not be out of a job for long.<\/p>\n<p>The former senior NFL insider for\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0\u2014 who stepped down in April after Page Six first published photos showing her and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands while at a resort in Arizona \u2014 has been in discussions about several new job opportunities ranging from pro football insider to opinionist\/personality, according to Front Office Sports.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8031\">Lindsay Clancy case isn\u2019t complicated. She murdered her kids \u2014 there is only one logical verdict<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The report came after The Athletic published the findings of its nearly five-month probe into Russini\u2019s relationship with Vrabel and said the former NFL reporter was \u201cnoncompliant\u201d with the New York Times-owned company\u2019s standards.<\/p>\n<p>Barstool Sports is a leading candidate to hire Russini, who is friends with Dan \u201cBig Cat\u201d Katz and Eric \u201cPFT Commenter\u201d Sollenberger \u2014 hosts of\u00a0the company\u2019s \u201cPardon My Take\u201d\u00a0podcast, which she has frequented many times \u2014 according to FOS.<\/p>\n<p>Russini is \u201cabsolutely\u201d planning a comeback to sports media sooner rather than later, sources told the outlet. <\/p>\n<p>Fox Sports Radio host Jon \u201cStugotz\u201d Weiner and a friend of Russini\u2019s said he would hire her during a May installment of his show, adding that \u201cthe offer holds forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Page Six broke the story that Russini and Vrabel were holding hands and hugging at a resort in March. The outlet published separate photos of them together on other occasions.<\/p>\n<p>Russini, who has two sons with her husband, Kevin Goldschmidt, stepped down from her position at The Athletic in April before her contract expired on June 30.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI stand by any and all reporting I\u2019ve ever done in my career,\u201d\u00a0Russini told The Athletic after her former employer shared the conclusion of its review.<\/p>\n<p>Vrabel \u2014 who has two sons with his wife, Jen, whom he married in 1999 \u2014 said Thursday that he did \u201cnot have any reaction to that\u201d when asked about the investigation results. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re moved on and focused on Seattle and focused on the Patriots and focused on getting better this week,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Vrabel, who did not receive disciplinary action from the Patriots or the NFL, missed Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft to attend counseling with his family.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8029\">Tesla on autopilot halts on busy highway before giant F-350 truck rear-ends and kills driver<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mike Semel,\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s editorial director for standards and editorial quality, who conducted the full review of Russini\u2019s work regarding Vrabel, wrote that he reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos published on its website and app that carried Russini\u2019s byline, co-byline, or contributor line \u2014 and 204 episodes of her\u00a0\u201cScoop City\u201d\u00a0podcast and 25 off-platform appearances\/interviews.<\/p>\n<p>He also studied 75 stories by\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0of events involving Vrabel and his teams and compared them to coverage in other publications \u2014 and interviewed 14 staffers who worked with her. <\/p>\n<p>Russini reportedly was not asked to participate in the review of her work. <\/p>\n<p>The review stated that the vast majority of Russini\u2019s work for\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0had nothing to do with Vrabel. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of what Russini wrote about Vrabel or the Patriots was transactional and newsy,\u201d Semel wrote. \u201cIn addition, I\u2019ve not found a clear link to conclude that Russini used her platform to promote Vrabel or help his teams during her time at\u00a0The Athletic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Semel did note that there were a few times Russini wrote glowingly about Vrabel \u201cthat in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Athletic\u00a0stated that it did not investigate Russini\u2019s personal conduct because she\u2019s no longer an employee.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussini should have disclosed to\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0the nature of her relationship with Vrabel to allow editors to assess the kinds of stories on which she should have been working, if any,\u201d Semel concluded. \u201cShe did not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Semel also wrote that Russini waited two days before telling her editors and managers after Page Six confronted her about the photos in April.<\/p>\n<p>The 43-year-old Russini joined\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0as its top NFL insider in August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Before that, she spent eight years at ESPN as a top NFL insider and largely contributed to the Worldwide Leader\u2019s shows, such as \u201cSportsCenter\u201d and \u201cGet Up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8027\">Ex-Jets QB Mark Sanchez to plead guilty in 2025 attack on grease truck driver that left him badly injured<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dianna Russini, former NFL insider for The Athletic, might not be out of a job for long. The former senior NFL insider for\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0\u2014 who stepped down in April after Page Six first published photos showing her and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands while at a resort in Arizona \u2014 has been in discussions about several new job opportunities ranging from pro football insider to opinionist\/personality, according to Front Office Sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dianna Russini plotting media return after Athletic probe \u2014 one outlet is a lead candidate to hire her - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8033\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dianna Russini plotting media return after Athletic probe \u2014 one outlet is a lead candidate to hire her - Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dianna Russini, former NFL insider for The Athletic, might not be out of a job for long. The former senior NFL insider for\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0\u2014 who stepped down in April after Page Six first published photos showing her and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands while at a resort in Arizona \u2014 has been in discussions about several new job opportunities ranging from pro football insider to opinionist\/personality, according to Front Office Sports.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=8033\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Metro Transit Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-03T23:08:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cd7bd9683106710eed62ba5da559b14\"},\"headline\":\"Dianna Russini plotting media return after Athletic probe \u2014 one outlet is a lead candidate to hire her\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-03T23:08:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033\"},\"wordCount\":731,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/d934648f5da640f37dce6b8cf4ef7851.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports Entertainment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/metrotransitreview.com\\\/?p=8033\",\"name\":\"Dianna Russini plotting media return after Athletic probe \u2014 one outlet is a lead candidate to hire her - 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