Fox Sports analyst blasts media coverage of Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini scandal

For his part, Vrabel admitted his “previous actions don’t meet the standards that I hold myself to” and took time away from the Patriots in the middle of the NFL Draft to seek counseling.

Meanwhile, new candid photos surfaced of the pair in public, some dating as far back as March 2020.

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It’s fair for Griffin to point out where coverage of this string events has been lacking. In a fractured media environment where stories appear constantly across a variety of outlets, it’s difficult to attain a 360-degree view of the coverage of any one story.

The Athletic, for example, has been conspicuously if not understandably silent about Russini and Vrabel’s relationship since she resigned. Their top media reporter, who’s broken a number of stories concerning other media personalities, didn’t even comment on Russini in a recent podcast appearance discussing a number of NFL Draft topics.

For all its on-air silence, ESPN also published perhaps the most thorough accounting of how the scandal unfolded. The network can’t be accused of “covering up” for a former employee.

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Even outlets like Pro Football Talk, which haven’t employed Vrabel or Russini, have appeared to squash some of the more unsavory behind-the-scenes gossip about the pair.

Griffin’s comments, while not unfounded, exposes two rifts.

One exists between those in NFL industry and media circles who knew about Vrabel and Russini’s relationship before the original photos surfaced. Count Griffin among those who at least appear genuinely surprised by the constant revelations.

The other rift exists between those who make the time to gobble up every last bit of content around a topic, and those who don’t. It’s entirely possible Griffin missed the Barstool dialogue, the ESPN.com story, the Daily Mail update, and the countless bits of Vrassini gossip that dropped in between. Even Griffin’s own employer, Fox, has covered the story thoroughly.

It’s hard for Griffin, or anyone, to keep up with all of this. But it’s somewhat irresponsible for a person in his position as a national television analyst to make unfalsifiable claims about a story that relates directly to his domain of expertise. Griffin is a prominent voice in NFL media, and has been for years.

The only way the Griffin-Russini story reaches a fever pitch is if the media takes a no-holds-barred coverage approach in the first place. Maybe it isn’t the media Griffin is consuming — but that isn’t the fault of Page Six, or Ben Strauss, or Fox Sports.