Vrabel to miss Day 3 of draft for counseling
Mike Florio and Chris Simms explain some of the questions they have after a statement from Mike Vrabel that he won't participate in Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft to attend counseling.
Video Transcript
Something that I didn't think was realistic.
This is one of those moments where when you see it, your first thought is someone got hacked, and those don't happen very often.
Andrew Luck retiring, wait a minute, somebody got hacked.
So I'm getting ready to go to bed last night, and Miles Simmons texted on the PFT writer thread a tweet from Mike Reiss, article from Mike Reiss of ESPN.com.
And ESPN's been keeping a very, very low profile when it comes to this Mike Vrabel, Diana Russini, New England Patriots, The Athletic story.
Yeah.
And all of a sudden, all of a sudden, after midnight, on the day of the draft, a day after Mike Vrabel had gone to the press room, made a statement about two and a half minutes, didn't take any questions, couple reporters tried, still very vague, kind of said plenty without saying anything specific.
And, oh, yesterday, the New York Post had a couple of additional photos that really weren't very incriminating.
They weren't smoking gun.
They add a little context, and there was some extra reporting, but it really didn't dramatically change.
I, I missed that.
Uh- I didn't see those actually.
I- Yeah after It's photos of the two of them supposedly at breakfast at the resort in Sedona, and you really can't see him, and it's not 100% certain it's her, but they've got eyewitnesses who said the two of them ate alone.
And of course, a source close to Russini, probably Russini or her crisis communications expert said friends showed up.
It wasn't just the two of them eating.
But they've got eyewitnesses who told the Post that it was just the two of them and But, but it wasn't a big, like the, the Tuesday news was- Yeah much bigger than the Wednesday release of the additional photos.
But boom, just after midnight, statement given by Mike Vrabel to Mike Reiss of ESPN.
"As I said the other day, I promised my family, this organization, and this team that I was going to give them the best version of me that I can possibly give them.
In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling starting this weekend.
This is something that I have given a lot of thought to, and it's something I would advise a player to do if I was counseling them.
I have always wanted to lead by example, and I believe this is what I have to do to be the best husband, father, and coach that I possibly can be.
This is not an easy thing for me to admit, but it is one that I know will make me a better person.
I appreciate the support that everyone has given me, and promise a stronger resolve as a result."
Now, it's just, it's just strange.
It's, it's crazy.
Well, it's, I, yeah.
I don't know any other word- Yeah, yeah to use- Yeah than strange.
He hasn't admitted to anything.
Right.
He's kind of danced around it.
Yeah.
People with common sense can supply the rest of the information, can finish the sentence.
But he's gonna miss the third day of the draft- Mm-hmm for this, and it's on a Saturday.
It's not like third day of the draft is a Monday, and that's when the counseling c-center's open for business.
Like, it's a weekend, it's a Saturday, and it's a fairly important day for an NFL team.
You could go Sunday, you could go Monday, you could go Tuesday.
That, that, that is what is just weird.
And is it like a soft suspension by the Patriots?
Did they "Oh, no, no, you're gonna, you know This is a This has been a big mess, Mike, and you need to get yourself taken care of.
What w- you Saturday."
Like, I don't know.
I don't, I It, it's just- Well, yeah, it is too strange- It is.
It is to add it all up.
Right.
Okay, he's gonna go into counseling.
Okay, and he's gonna announce it.
They're gonna hand it to a network that has tried its best to ignore without conspicuously ignoring the story since it first came out.
After midnight, on the day of the draft, and he's gonna miss the third day of the draft for it.
I just, I couldn't believe it when I saw it, and I, I still Like, I checked and made sure, is this real, is this real, is this real, before I finally posted it last night before I went to bed.
Yeah, no, it, it, it is crazy.
I, I'm with you, especially like a team like New England, where we know it's always buttoned up, and it's on to Cincinnati, and we're all about football, and we win Super Bowls, and that's the way it is.
And Vrabel, of course, fits that mold, so that's why you're like, "What?
How could this be?
No way."
Now yeah, some of this, it, it's crazy, and you're right.
I mean, again, it, it, it's almost an admission of guilt to a degree, as far as Mike Vrabel without saying it.
You, you're right.
I mean, that's at least what it gives off, the vibes it gives off here.
And then on top of that, yeah, to miss the third day of the draft, again, one of your best football minds in the, in, in the whole world.
We don't wanna lean on him about, "Hey, Mike, you know, you watch this defensive tackle here in the fifth round.
We like him, but we also like this other D tackle.
What do you think?"
To not have that, that is crazy.
So one, is it, like, is it more serious than we imagined?
Or two, is this really about the blowback, and they're just trying to say, "Hey, we're, we're holding our guy accountable too.
We know that Diana Russini's had to deal with some issues here, but we're just trying to let you know that, look, look, we're gonna make our guy miss the third day of the draft because we're holding him accountable here, and he's gotta fix some things."
I mean, it almost feels like it's almost PR-ish to me too, Mike.
And again, I, I, I, I, I give respect to Vrabel for going to do it and putting his best foot forward and all that.
Not trying to be negative there, but yeah, the timing of it is, is curious.
There's no doubt about that.
And I could see it being a PR attemptIt really didn't land the way they intended.
Yeah.
There was actually a report yesterday from Front Office Sports, and it wasn't a report as much as it was passing along on the record statement from the Patriots insisting that they don't use crisis communications experts.
And that was a response to the report from overnight Sunday into Monday that the Patriots had tried to kill this story when it all first came out- Yeah and that a crisis communications expert was the person who led the charge.
And my reaction was, why are you even talking about that now?
Right.
Why are you talking about that a day after Mike Vrabel does his statement?
That's over.
That's done.
Who cares- Yeah.
Why are you giving- if he tried to kill the story?
Right.
No one's talking about that anymore.
I know.
So you're gonna dust that off and yell, "Hey everybody, look back at this.
Here.
H- here's our predictable response to something that no one's gonna believe anyway.
Talk about this now."
I- Yeah, well, within that response- And, and- tells you they're not using a professional person to help them with responses.
No, exactly.
And they should.
That's right.
Right.
That's right.
We did not use a crisis communications expert in our initial response to this PR disaster, and we, we should have.
And maybe they should get their act together now, because this whole thing is an unmitigated disaster- Yeah for the Patriots from a PR standpoint.
And it's a personal issue.
This is where I try to- Yeah, it's a tough one walk this line.
It's tough.
We have sympathy for Mike Vrabel- Totally and his family.
Yeah.
And we wish him the best.
We're reacting to what's out there, and the problem is they drew a stupid line in the sand right out of the gates.
And this is what happens when the knee-jerk reaction is circle the wagons, when you're operating out of the Roy Cohn playbook.
Deny, deny, deny, attack, attack, attack, dismiss, dismiss, dismiss, and never relent.
This is laughable.
Laughable.
Doesn't deserve any further response, and look how far we've come in 16 days.
And look how foolish Vrabel looks, the Patriots look, Diana Russini looks, The Athletic looks for what they said at the time, given what's happened the last couple of days- Yeah between Vrabel's statement and missing the third day of the draft to go to counseling on a Saturday.
Well, it's, yeah.
It's like- Unbelievable- It, it real- how far this has come I, I mean, it's like they keep giving this fire oxygen.
That, that, that's really what it is.
I mean, and then that, and that in itself, I think is what you're talking about and where we're all are of just going, "Yeah, this wasn't handled right from the start," and because it wasn't handled right from the start, it's just continually gotten bigger and bigger.
And then, okay, wait, we made it, we made one mistake, and then it's, oh, it's this next one.
And then that, that, ooh, that reignites everybody's interest in the story.
"Ooh, what's going on here?
Wait, I don't believe that.
Hold on, I gotta, I gotta figure out this.
Who I'm gonna call people," blah, blah, blah.
I mean, so it's just, it's, yes, the, the TMZs, the New York Posts of the world, all that, it, it's a story that won't end because it hasn't been handled correctly.
And even with this, like, I, I like, you know, the effort to go self-correct and, and do that, but at this time on the third day of the draft?
Again, yeah, it just, all it does is open up Pandora's Box for everybody to kind of talk about it again.
And then also kind of what we just started to go, "Well, damn, I mean, he's certainly acting like he's guilty of doing something wrong."
And so that's gonna just again feed the, you know, feed, make, make a, a feeding frenzy here for everyone to talk about.
And that's what's unfortunate for, for Vrabel and the Patriots and everybody involved.
I mean, yeah, when you put it all together, private personal matter, and we need to make good decisions on and off the field, and that starts with me, and don't wanna be the c- cause of a distraction.
You know, he hasn't acknowledged directly or indirectly the connection to the photos, but obviously it's all connected to the photos.
Yes.
When you throw in the, "I'm going to counseling soon"- Yeah in just a couple of days- Right.
If friends were there- on a very important day on the calendar and we were all hanging out with friends and doing good and it was all that, we wouldn't be going to counseling.
I mean- Right.
Right.
Right.
I mean, you know-
