Pats putting Vrabel in front of media was 'astute'
Mike Florio unpacks what to make of Mike Vrabel addressing the media for the first time since the Dianna Russini incident, calling the move by the Patriots to put him out there an 'astute' one.
Video Transcript
Today, I mean, we're two weeks removed from the publication by the New York Post of photos of Patriots coach Mike Vrabel and former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini.
The photos, as I've said many times, are what they are.
The statements issued by Vrabel, Russini, and by The Athletic are what they are, and it's up to people to make their own conclusions about whether or not there's any daylight between the photos and the characterizations of them.
Now, Vrabel hasn't said anything since the statement that he provided to the Post, and among other things, he called the situation laughable and said it doesn't deserve any further response.
The Patriots had a pre-draft press conference last Monday.
Vrabel wasn't involved in it.
In fairness, the schedule that the team put out in March didn't mention that he would be there.
It only mentioned VP of Player Personnel Elliot Wolf.
But still, there had been nothing more from Vrabel.
He had provided the statement to the Post, and he had disappeared, and the expectation was he would talk to reporters again during the draft.
Most teams do a daily availability after round one, after Friday night, rounds two and three, and then at some point on Saturday, the final day of the draft.
And Tom Curran and I spent some time on PFT Live this morning.
Obviously, Tom covers the Patriots for NBC Sports Boston.
We tried to project when we would next hear from Vrabel.
Given the way the Patriots have handled this, we assumed there wouldn't be anything until Vrabel speaks during the draft.
I thought maybe he would issue a written statement and say, "That's all I have to say about the matter," and leave it at that.
But they ultimately made, I think, a very astute PR decision because the team is back.
The off-season program has begun, and they were going to make players available to reporters today.
We see that from time to time.
It'll be a handful of guys at the podium answering questions.
Well, they're presumably gonna get some questions about Mike Vrabel.
Has he said anything?
What has he said?
How do you feel?
Is it a distraction?
The mere fact that players would be asked about it underscores the fact that it is a distraction.
So the Patriots made the decision to put Vrabel out there today before any of the players spoke and provide a statement.
The statement is just a couple of minutes, and I think it's important in order to best analyze it and so that we're all on the same page, we need to hear the entire statement.
So here's the full statement.
I'll have some comments about it on the other side.
Let me first begin by saying thank you.
thank you, for your patience that you've shown in a, personal and private matter, for me and obviously everybody involved.
I know that that's not easy for you, and I respect that, and I appreciate your efforts in doing so.
I understand I could've, you know, addressed you guys sooner, but it was important to me, to have a conversation with the players, which I did yesterday, very candidly as we began, our off-season program, which everyone is excited to be a part of.
Stacy had mentioned the players', availability, and I-- it was never my intention to have them speak to you or address you before I did.
And so I asked him to, to come today and to, to talk with you.
you know, I also don't wanna take away from our, you know, the draft, the weekend of the draft.
You know, this is an important time for us, our organization, and the excitement and the joy that those players are gonna have that, that we bring onto our football team.
They're starting an amazing journey, one that should be celebrated, a-as we welcome them onto our team.
With that being said, you know, I've had some difficult conversations with people that I care about, with my family, the organization, the coaches, the players.
those have been positive and productive.
we believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions.
That includes me.
That starts with me.
We never want our actions to negatively infect, affect the team.
we never want to be the cause of a distraction.
You know, and what I-- those are comments and questions that I've answered for the team and with the team, and we'll keep those private and to ourselves.
Care deeply about this football team and, excited to coach 'em.
I, also know that I'm gonna attack each day, with humility and focus.
and what I can promise you is that the, my family, this organization, the, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans, most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward, and that's what I know, and I'm excited to do that.
but I wanted to, to one, just address this and thank you, for your patience in dealing with the private and personal matter.
And that's the extent of the comments.
I've seen some criticize the statement as basically being a two-minute word salad in which he said nothing, and you could say he said nothing, but he also said everything.
When you consider what the initial reaction was from him, from Russini, from The Athletic, this is laughable.
This is nothing.
Doesn't show the proper context.
That was what Steve Ginsburg, the executive e-editor of The Athletic, said.
There was clearly something to the photos-That justified Vrabel using terms like personal and private matter, that he's had difficult conversations with people that I care about, that the team needs to make good decisions, and that starts with me.
You never wanna be the cause of a distraction.
So without really admitting to anything, he's acknowledging when you look at the full content of what he said, that there's something about the photos which he dismissed initially.
There's something beyond the photos that caused him to have difficult conversations, that caused him to say, "We don't wanna make bad decisions on and off the field, and that includes me," and that he never wants to be a distraction for the team.
Now, he wouldn't talk about what he said to the team, and I respect that, but here's the reality.
We're at a stage of the off-season where the rosters are as big as they're gonna be.
Now, they don't yet have the draft picks or the undrafted free agents.
But you're gonna have guys in that room who may or may not tell someone what he said or what any players may have said in response to it.
You're gonna have guys who get cut at some point.
You may have players who choose to talk about it on or off the record, and who knows how accurate it'll be.
We know how that goes.
Different people have different interpretations of events.
But even if Vrabel's not gonna say anything, other people in the room may choose to, and I'm not saying they should, I'm not saying they will, I'm just saying they can.
So that's another way this story can get another injection of life and continue.
And again, we're two weeks in.
Things don't last two weeks in today's world.
Sometimes they don't last two days.
He did what he had to do to protect the team.
He did what he had to do to take accountability for the situation.
And one of the things I said early on, how do you ever have any authority or credibility with your players when you're trying to tell them not to create distractions when you've created one that you've yet to fully address?
Something Michael Holley said last week on NBC Sports Boston, and we revisited it on PFT Live, where he's the co-host every Friday, most Fridays.
This Friday, Simms will be in 'cause it's the day after the draft, but most Fridays, it's Michael.
Michael said he's gonna have to talk to the players.
You can stiff-arm the media.
You can't stiff-arm the players 'cause you're the leader.
You're the captain.
You're the guy who is telling them what to do and what not to do, and do as I say, not as I do no longer flies.
They used to tell us that when we were kids, when they were walking around with cocktail glasses and cigarettes and swearing in the house.
Do what I say, not what I do.
Can't do that.
Definitely can't do it as a football coach.
At a time when you wanna be sure your players make good decisions and that your players don't create distractions, you need to deal with it head-on when you haven't made a good decision and when you've created a distraction.
And again, he didn't go into any details, but he said what he said, just like the photos.
The photos are what they are.
The denials were what they were.
The statement today is what it is.
And I think it says plenty.
And it does Diana Russini no favors because her position all along, unwavered, unchanged, has been there's nothing to see here.
Her original statement to the New York Post, "The photos don't represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day.
Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues."
And then when she submitted her resignation letter last week, she blamed the uproar in the aftermath of the photos on, quote, "Commentators in various media who have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts."
End quote.
She also said she was resigning not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.
Well, Vrabel supplied plenty of oxygen today, and it really puts her in a tougher spot.
She's walked away from her job.
We don't know what her next move is going to be.
He's unscathed.
The NFL isn't looking into the situation.
The Patriots, by all appearances, have circled the wagons from the get-go.
The PR decision that was made today is a smart one.
The original PR decision that was made by whoever, whoever made the decision, Vrabel, Russini, someone with the Patriots, someone with The Athletic, the crisis communications expert who was retained by Russini, and maybe a different one who was retained by the Patriots, somebody made a bad decision to issue statements that took a very hard line that these photos mean nothing.
And those statements failed to properly anticipate the way that reasonable people would react to the publication of the photos.
It's that simple, and it's always important for any organization when something happens that creates a problem, as you're figuring out how to deal with it, you better be able to take a step back and understand how it's gonna fly and how people are gonna react.It's not enough to just say nothing to see here because there is something to see.
And what people saw, generally speaking, was different from what Vrabel Rossini and Stephen Ginsburg originally had to say.
We wouldn't be here two weeks later.
Vrabel wouldn't have given that statement today if their initial assessment of the situation and what it would take to put out the fire was accurate.
The article from Ben Strauss of ESPN, which I don't think ESPN promoted the way it could have or should have, and it does invite scrutiny as to how aggressively ESPN won't just report on sensitive matters involving the NFL and its teams, but will showcase the reporting, spotlight the reporting.
It may just be we're going to check the box and we're going to stick it over here and we're not going to bring any attention to it.
Strauss's item had a lot of stuff in there, a lot of new stuff, a lot of compelling stuff.
And then the late Sunday, early Monday item from In Touch that was picked up by Yahoo Sports that the Patriots reportedly tried to kill the story.
You put it all together and yeah, Vrabel had to do something and he did it on Tuesday.
And for him, it could be the end.
We move forward.
Draft is coming.
It's a positive time.
It's a happy time for the team.
That's what he's going to focus on.
He's going to do his job.
He's going to work hard.
He's going to learn from it.
Learn from what?
We don't know.
Learn from whatever.
And the net result for Rossini is, I believe, this is my opinion here, when you consider the position she's taken so far and what Vrabel said today, she is damaged by this.
And it's going to make it harder for her to get back to a position where she's reporting on the comings and goings and the inner workings of the NFL and its teams.
Now, there may be some other platform, podcast, whatever.
But as I said, and as the headline for the PFT explains, he did her no favors with his statement that was issued today.
