Two weeks after Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had very little to say about photos published by the New York Post of Vrabel with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, Vrabel had more to say.
Vrabel appeared before reporters on Tuesday to make a statement about the situation.
"Thank you for your patience that you've shown in a personal and private matter," Vrabel said, via Kevin Stone of New England Football Journal. "For me, and obviously everybody involved, I know that that's not easy for you, and I respect that and I appreciate your efforts in doing so.
"I understand I could have, you know, addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly, as we began our offseason program, which everyone is excited to be a part of. [Patriots V.P. of communications] Stacy [James] had mentioned the players' [media] availability. It was never my intention to have them speak to you or address you before I did. So I asked him to come today and talk with you.
"You know, I also don't want to take away from our, you know, the draft, the weekend of the draft. This is an important time for us, our organization, and the excitement and the joy that those players are gonna have that we bring onto our football team. They're starting an amazing journey, one that should be celebrated as we welcome them onto our team.
"With that being said, you know, I've had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players. Those have been positive and productive. You know, we believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me, that starts with me. We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. You never want to be the cause of a distraction. And when I — those are comments and questions that I've answered for the team, with the team, we'll keep those private and to ourselves.
"I care deeply about this football team, and I'm excited to coach them. I also know that I'm gonna attack each day with humility and focus. And what I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward. That's what I know, and I'm excited to do that. But I wanted to go and just address this, and thank you for your patience in dealing with the private and personal matter."
That's a far cry from Vrabel's initial statement to the Post: “These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn’t deserve any further response."
The further response came today, after a 14-day stretch in which the issue has continued to be one of the biggest stories in the entire league. And he realized that the players made available to reporters would be asked about it, and that it would have been the first thing he was asked the first time he spoke to reporters during the draft.
While the carefully-worded statement includes no specific admissions or confessions, the entire message (in light of the broader context) shows that the initial effort to dismiss the situation was not successful. And that the situation was not laughable.
Whether this ends the matter for Vrabel and the Patriots remains to be seen. For now, he made the only move that could be made in order to minimize the extent of the distraction that was created.