Few sports commentators broached the allegations around NFL insider Dianna Russini and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel on Wednesday, but in New York City, WFAN’s Boomer Esiason offered a considered reaction to the photos that surfaced earlier in the week.
Russini and Vrabel were caught by the New York Post embracing one another and spending time poolside in Arizona last month, with photos and details published in a story late Tuesday evening.
Both Russini, who is the top NFL reporter at The Athletic, and Vrabel denied any implication of a romantic relationship. The New York Times Co., which owns The Athletic, denied the allegations as well and expressed strong support for Russini.
In a segment Wednesday morning on Boomer & Gio, Esiason said he believed the denials by Russini and Vrabel, but said that Russini will not be able to escape the doubts about her “journalistic integrity” going forward.
“The biggest problem is, let’s say there was a female wide receiver coach, we now have female coaches in the league, and let’s say you saw (ESPN New York Jets reporter) Rich Cimini hugging her,” Esiason said. “We’d all be saying, ‘Ah there goes his journalistic integrity out the window.’ You know what I mean? And that’s really what this is all about, whether or not she can recover from that kind of feeling within the business. I’m not really worried about the salaciousness. I actually do believe both of them.”
Esiason added that he appreciated The Athletic going to bat for its employee rather than leaving her out to dry, but the former NFL MVP clearly believes that the bad optics will be unavoidable for Russini no matter how strong her and the company’s defense was.
“For her and her legitimacy doing what she does, it’s not going to be easy for her,” Esiason said. “It’s going to be really, really tough on social media. You know that.”
This is perhaps the most important aspect of the situation as it relates to Russini doing her job. Some sources in the league may be dubious of her going forward, but it may not jeopardize her ability to break news for The Athletic.
But if the audience continually meets her reporting with skepticism and an impression of bias relating to her coziness with Vrabel or any other source in the league, it could become a big impediment for her and The Athletic.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.