{"id":588852,"date":"2026-04-17T01:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588852\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T01:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:48:12","slug":"usa-today-sports-ends-relationship-with-writer-over-dianna-russini-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/588852\/","title":{"rendered":"USA Today Sports ends relationship with writer over Dianna Russini comments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, NFL writer Crissy Froyd celebrated Dianna Russini\u2018s <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/athletic\/dianna-russini-resigns-controversy-mike-vrabel-photos.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">resignation<\/a> from The Athletic. On Thursday, those comments cost her a gig with USA Today Sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure you were told to submit this or that you\u2019d get fired instead. Don\u2019t let the door hit you on the way out,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/crissy_froyd\/status\/2044147797612507393\" rel=\"nofollow\">wrote Froyd Tuesday on X<\/a> while sharing Russini\u2019s resignation letter amid a controversy stemming from photos of the NFL insider with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort. \u201cWe know who you really are and what you\u2019ve been up to for years. It does so much detriment to women in sports who have done things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to her LinkedIn profile, Froyd has been a writer for USA Today Sports for over 10 years, focusing on quarterbacks and the Atlanta Falcons. She previously wrote for outlets such as Fan Nation Network, SI, SB Nation, and Saturday Down South.<\/p>\n<p>Froyd later <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/crissy_froyd\/status\/2044593906071839002\" rel=\"nofollow\">provided a statement to The Daily Caller<\/a>, saying that Russini \u201cdeserves\u201d to suffer consequences for her actions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of us do know what she\u2019s been up to,\u201d said Froyd. \u201cFrom fights with other reporters in Chili\u2019s parking lots about hooking up with married NFL coaches to everything else, it is almost certainly all true. It was the worst-kept secret in the NFL reporting world for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Froyd added that she was once offered the chance to be mentored by Russini but declined \u201cbecause I knew what she was about and her track record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The writer then admitted that she \u201chad a strong relationship with former QB JT Daniels that\u2026 did include multiple sexual encounters and there was a lot involved,\u201d adding that this relationship began after Daniels was out of football (Daniels played for USC, Georgia, West Virginia, and Rice between 2018 and 2023). Froyd then went on to attack Russini further, claiming that the former ESPN and Athletic journalist had been involved in similar situations that directly impacted her reporting.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, USA Today Sports released a statement saying it had ended its contractor relationship with Froyd effective immediately.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cUSA TODAY Sports has ended its contractor relationship with Crissy Froyd effective immediately. Her recent statements do not reflect our commitment to professionalism or uphold our principles of ethical conduct.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lAkOIwuc5G\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/lAkOIwuc5G<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usatodaysports\/status\/2044892156507074793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer recent statements do not reflect our commitment to professionalism or uphold our principles of ethical conduct,\u201d said USA Today spokesperson Lark-Marie Ant\u00f3n.<\/p>\n<p>Russini, whose explanation of events from Arizona was <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/athletic\/dianna-russini-under-investigation-mike-vrabel-situation-reporter.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">being investigated<\/a> by The Athletic at the time of her resignation, had been the focus of many <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nfl\/women-sports-media-disagree-dianna-russini-scandal-jeopardizes-credibility.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">narratives<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nfl\/michelle-beadle-bothered-women-dianna-russini.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rumors<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/nfl\/albert-breer-dianna-russini-questions-past-reporting-on-mike-vrabel.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">speculation<\/a> since the photos were <a href=\"https:\/\/awfulannouncing.com\/athletic\/dianna-russini-denies-insinuations-photos-mike-vrabel-nfl.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first published by Page Six<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Froyd confirmed that she would no longer be writing for USA Today Sports, adding, \u201cI regret zero of what I said and stand beside it\u201d and that \u201cI feel I\u2019ve been very transparent and did nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I would like to acknowledge the statements put out about me recently and that I am also no longer with USA TODAY SMG.<\/p>\n<p>I regret zero of what I said and stand beside it. If you want to talk, my messages are open. My email is operative, too.<\/p>\n<p>I feel I\u2019ve been very transparent and\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Crissy Froyd (@crissy_froyd) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/crissy_froyd\/status\/2044909543272939626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Tuesday, NFL writer Crissy Froyd celebrated Dianna Russini\u2018s resignation from The Athletic. On Thursday, those comments cost&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[257297,94756,349,99,54263,257298],"class_list":{"0":"post-588852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-crissy-froyd","9":"tag-dianna-russini","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-usa-today","13":"tag-usa-today-sports-media-group"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}