NEED TO KNOWMike Vrabel has returned to the New England Patriots after taking time away for "counseling"
The coach said last week that he would "take accountability" for his role in a photo scandal involving former NFL reporter Dianna Russini
Vrabel and Russini were seen looking cozy in photos published last week that were taken in 2020
Mike Vrabel is back with the Patriots 48 hours after going to “counseling” amid his photo scandal with Dianna Russini.The New England Patriots head coach, 50, was seen walking into the team’s facility in Foxborough on Monday, April 27, according to ESPN.It was Vrabel's first time back with the team after he missed the third day of the NFL Draft to attend counseling and focus on his "family," he said, after photos surfaced of him looking cozy with the 43-year-old Russini, a former senior NFL insider for The Athletic.
After a back-and-forth among reporters about Vrabel's focus that day, the Patriots' front office disputed a report that the coach was in “constant contact” with the team on Saturday during rounds 4-7 of the draft.
Eliot Wolf, executive vice president of player personnel for the Patriots, said Vrabel was not communicating with the team over the weekend, and that Vrabel spoke to executives and "talked through things" before coming to the "decision that, you know, the time away really needs to be time away."
"So, we were not in contact with Mike today other than some just, 'Hope everything's going okay,' kind of text early this morning," Wolf said, according to MassLive.
The coach’s return to the team comes less than a week after new photos were published that showed him and Russini at a bar more than six years ago, well before they were photographed at an upscale Arizona resort at the end of March.
The photos, published by Page Six on Thursday, April 23, showed the coach and the journalist looking cozy while at the Tribeca Tavern in New York City on March 10, 2020.In one photo, the two appeared to share a kiss, and another showed Vrabel wearing his wedding ring while placing his hand on Russini's thigh.“They were kissing and they were all over each other,” a source who was at the bar told Page Six, adding, “He had a ring on.”Follow your favorite athletes on and off the field with PEOPLE's free sports newsletter — sign up now!Hours after the photos were published and before the first round of the draft, Vrabel addressed the matter."I take accountability for my actions and the actions that caused a distraction to the people that I care most about,” Vrabel told reporters. "My family, this football team, the organization and the fans."