{"id":629268,"date":"2026-05-07T17:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/629268\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T17:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:03:09","slug":"drake-maye-addresses-mike-vrabel-dianna-russini-scandal-after-boat-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/629268\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Maye addresses Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini scandal after boat revelation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye said Mike Vrabel \u201chas done a great job\u201d of communicating with his team as the coach\u2019s alleged relationship<\/a> with former NFL insider Dianna Russini dominates headlines.<\/p>\n

Maye explained that he doesn\u2019t believe Vrabel\u2019s off-field situation will be a distraction for the defending AFC champions this upcoming season while speaking to the Associated Press following the Truist Championship Pro-Am<\/a> in Charlotte on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Drake Maye of the New England Patriots looks on during the Pro Am event prior to the Truist Championship 2026 at Quail Hollow Country Club on May 6, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Getty Images<\/p>\n

According to TMZ, Mike Vrabel rented a boat with Dianna Russini in 2021. He\u2019s seen above taking a snapshot with boat rental company staff. TMZSports.com<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t,\u201d Maye said at Quail Hallow<\/a>. \u201cI mean, he\u2019s our head coach. I think he\u2019s done a great job of talking to us and talking us through it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just looking forward to getting back to work and getting ready.\u201d <\/p>\n

When asked whether the matter is something New England will need to put behind it before the season, Maye said, \u201cI think that\u2019ll take care of itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s got the right mindset, and I know he\u2019s a great human being. I think he\u2019s \u2026 like I said, I love playing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

TMZ reported Wednesday<\/a> that Vrabel and Russini rented a private boat together in June 2021<\/a>, just months before she gave birth to her first child.<\/p>\n

The pair\u2019s signatures \u2014 as seen on the documents to rent the boat published by the outlet \u2014 are seen as the only participants on the vessel, where they spent two to three hours in Putnam County, Tenn.<\/p>\n

Patriots coach, Mike Vrabel, and NFL reporter Dianna Russini at Ambiente Sedona hotel in Arizona on Saturday, March 28, 2026. \u00a9 Page SIx<\/p>\n

The duo both signed a waiver for the rental, as seen in photos obtained by TMZ. TMZSports.com<\/p>\n

Russini was covering the Titans for ESPN and Vrabel was head coach of the team at the time.<\/p>\n

Vrabel and Russini were \u201ccautious about photos being taken\u201d \u2014 with Russini refusing to take photos with staff, and Vrabel allowing one snapshot to be taken and requesting not to post it publicly.<\/p>\n

Russini was pregnant at the time with her and husband Kevin Goldschmidt\u2019s first child. She\u00a0gave birth to her first son on Aug. 7, 2021, and named him Michael.<\/p>\n

The rental for for approximately 2-3 hours. TMZSports.com<\/p>\n

Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini no January 15, 2020.
\n Dianna Russini\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Vrabel and his wife Jen have been married since 1999 and have two sons together. <\/p>\n

Page Six broke the story and published photos on April 7 showing Vrabel and Russini\u00a0holding hands while at a resort in Arizona<\/a>\u00a0in March.<\/p>\n

Other photos showed the pair hugging on a private deck and talking while sitting in a hot tub together.<\/p>\n

New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel speaks at the team facility in Foxborough, Mass., prior to the start of the NFL football draft on Thursday, April 23, 2026.
\n AP<\/p>\n

Vrabel addressed the situation with reporters ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft and said he discussed it in-house with his players.<\/p>\n

The Patriots have stood by Vrabel<\/a> and supported him as he skipped Day 3 of the draft to seek \u201ccounseling\u201d and focus on himself.<\/p>\n

Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14, and the outlet\u2019s parent company, The New York Times, is in the midst of an internal investigation on the matter.<\/p>\n

Mike Vrabel and reporter Dianna Russini at Tribeca Tavern on March 11, 2020.
\n \u00a9 Page Six<\/p>\n

Page Six published\u00a0more photos of Vrabel and Russini<\/a>\u00a0on April 23, appearing to show the pair kissing while at a Tribeca Tavern in Manhattan in March of 2020, when he was coaching for the Tennessee Titans and she was an NFL insider at ESPN.<\/p>\n

This was the second time Maye \u2014 entering his second season under Vrabel after reaching Super Bowl 2026 in February \u2014 was asked about Vrabel\u2019s off-the-field issues<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The quarterback said \u201cwe\u2019re here for coach\u201d while at an event for Best Buddies, a non-profit for helping those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), last week in Massachusetts. <\/p>\n

The Patriots will host a three-day rookie minicamp beginning Friday in Foxborough, Mass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patriots quarterback Drake Maye said Mike Vrabel \u201chas done a great job\u201d of communicating with his team as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[94756,1826,8225,1815,349,99,7745],"class_list":["post-629268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-dianna-russini","tag-drake-maye","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-wags"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629268","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=629268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}