Dianna Russini might not be out of a job for long.
The former senior NFL insider for The Athletic — who stepped down in April after Page Six first published photos showing her and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel holding hands while at a resort in Arizona — has been in discussions about several new job opportunities ranging from pro football insider to opinionist/personality, according to Front Office Sports.
The report came after The Athletic published the findings of its nearly five-month probe into Russini’s relationship with Vrabel and said the former NFL reporter was “noncompliant” with the New York Times-owned company’s standards.
Barstool Sports is a leading candidate to hire Russini, who is friends with Dan “Big Cat” Katz and Eric “PFT Commenter” Sollenberger — hosts of the company’s “Pardon My Take” podcast, which she has frequented many times — according to FOS.
Russini is “absolutely” planning a comeback to sports media sooner rather than later, sources told the outlet.
Fox Sports Radio host Jon “Stugotz” Weiner and a friend of Russini’s said he would hire her during a May installment of his show, adding that “the offer holds forever.”
Page Six broke the story that Russini and Vrabel were holding hands and hugging at a resort in March. The outlet published separate photos of them together on other occasions.
Russini, who has two sons with her husband, Kevin Goldschmidt, stepped down from her position at The Athletic in April before her contract expired on June 30.
“I stand by any and all reporting I’ve ever done in my career,” Russini told The Athletic after her former employer shared the conclusion of its review.
Vrabel — who has two sons with his wife, Jen, whom he married in 1999 — said Thursday that he did “not have any reaction to that” when asked about the investigation results.
“We’re moved on and focused on Seattle and focused on the Patriots and focused on getting better this week,” he said.
Vrabel, who did not receive disciplinary action from the Patriots or the NFL, missed Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft to attend counseling with his family.
Mike Semel, The Athletic’s editorial director for standards and editorial quality, who conducted the full review of Russini’s work regarding Vrabel, wrote that he reviewed 903 stories and 77 videos published on its website and app that carried Russini’s byline, co-byline, or contributor line — and 204 episodes of her “Scoop City” podcast and 25 off-platform appearances/interviews.
He also studied 75 stories by The Athletic of events involving Vrabel and his teams and compared them to coverage in other publications — and interviewed 14 staffers who worked with her.
Russini reportedly was not asked to participate in the review of her work.
The review stated that the vast majority of Russini’s work for The Athletic had nothing to do with Vrabel.
“Most of what Russini wrote about Vrabel or the Patriots was transactional and newsy,” Semel wrote. “In addition, I’ve not found a clear link to conclude that Russini used her platform to promote Vrabel or help his teams during her time at The Athletic.”
Semel did note that there were a few times Russini wrote glowingly about Vrabel “that in hindsight are awkward or even uncomfortable.”
The Athletic stated that it did not investigate Russini’s personal conduct because she’s no longer an employee.
“Russini should have disclosed to The Athletic the nature of her relationship with Vrabel to allow editors to assess the kinds of stories on which she should have been working, if any,” Semel concluded. “She did not.”
Semel also wrote that Russini waited two days before telling her editors and managers after Page Six confronted her about the photos in April.
The 43-year-old Russini joined The Athletic as its top NFL insider in August 2023.
Before that, she spent eight years at ESPN as a top NFL insider and largely contributed to the Worldwide Leader’s shows, such as “SportsCenter” and “Get Up.”
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