Rich Reacts to Mike Vrabel Missing Day 3 of Patriots’ Draft in Wake of Dianna Russini Scandal

Mike Vrabel will not be in the New England Patriots draft room for the third day of the NFL Draft, and Rich used the top of The Rich Eisen Show to explain why he had been holding the Dianna Russini story at arm's length until that detail forced his hand.

"I have avoided talking about this subject matter because it involves two consenting adults and involves two consenting married adults, and what they were doing in their spare time with each other allegedly," Rich said. "I didn't want to even talk about it because I have no idea what's true and what is not." The reporting around Vrabel and Russini, the longtime league insider most recently with The Athletic, had been circulating for days, but Rich framed his reluctance as a matter of not wanting to litigate the personal lives of two people he has known professionally for years.

The news that pulled the story onto the air was structural rather than tabloid. Vrabel, the reigning AP Coach of the Year and the head coach of the AFC champion Patriots, will be in the draft room Thursday night and Friday before stepping away for the weekend to seek counseling with his family outside of Massachusetts. Rich said the unusual choice to leave a draft room with eight selections still on the board was not something he had encountered before.

"There's eight choices that need to be made," Rich said. "Clearly he needs to focus on his family life and his personal life, and I just send my best to him and his family on that front, and whatever needs to be repaired, he's clearly taking time away in a way that I've never heard of before to do so." Rich noted that Russini had been a frequent guest on the show during her runs at ESPN and The Athletic, and that he has known Vrabel longer.

The operational question Rich kept returning to was what a head coach actually does when a draft room is making picks without him. "There's going to be eight guys who get drafted who he's going to essentially, what, find out on his phone?" Rich said. "What is he going to follow along? I don't understand what's going on, but clearly some repair needs to be made in his personal life, and he's taking his time to do all that."

Rich closed the segment by tipping his cap to both individuals and asking that whatever they needed to do to live their lives in peace and harmony be respected, before pivoting back to the broader draft coverage from Pittsburgh. The decision, he said, was the kind of thing that would have to be addressed because the absence itself made the personal story a professional one.