This Mike Vrabel story just will not go away. And if you ask Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Patriots are a big reason why.
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Sixteen days in, the situation is still hanging around. Maybe even picking up steam, Florio writes.
Start here: Vrabel initially brushed off the photos with Dianna Russini as "laughable." Fine. That could have been the end of it. Instead, less than 24 hours after addressing reporters, he announces he's stepping away from the team on Day 3 of the NFL Draft to attend counseling.
That raised eyebrows around the league.
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Florio points out the Patriots' handling of this has been, at best, confusing. If the goal was to quiet the story early, the approach did the opposite. Either the team believed Vrabel's initial denial and got caught off guard, or everyone signed off on a strategy that didn't hold up once more details surfaced.
At first, the spotlight leaned toward Russini. Questions about objectivity, credibility, all of that. She resigns. Vrabel stays in place. Suddenly, the focus flips.
Then came Vrabel's Tuesday comments, which felt like an attempt to get ahead of things before draft night. Smart in theory. Except the Patriots followed that up with a statement to Front Office Sports denying they used a crisis communications expert, while not exactly shutting down the idea that there was an effort to contain the story in the first place.
That only added more intrigue.
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Now the counseling decision. On a Saturday. During the draft. A day when teams are still working phones and boards.
Florio floats what plenty around the league are probably thinking. Is this a quiet suspension? A way to discipline Vrabel without calling it that?
Nothing confirmed. Just the kind of speculation that comes when things do not quite add up.
There is also another layer here. The timing could suggest concern that more details are still out there. If that is the case, getting ahead of it now might be part of the play.
Bottom line, this has turned into one of those stories where every move creates more questions than answers.
And the way it is going, nobody would be surprised if the strangest part has not even hit yet.
