Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said he has had “some difficult conversations” over the past two weeks after Page Six published photographs of him hugging and holding hands with NFL reporter Dianna Russini. Vrabel: “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 affect the team. We never want to be the cause of a distraction.” Vrabel acknowledged that he “could have spoken to the media sooner,” but he “wanted to first speak to the players.” The Patriots opened their voluntary offseason program Monday, which is “when Vrabel addressed the team.” Vrabel was “initially scheduled to talk Thursday” but “requested the change because he didn’t want players to have to speak before him.” Vrabel “issued a three-minute statement, before fielding a handful of additional questions about the matter away from the podium.” He “elected to keep the contents of his conversations with his family, players, staff, and ownership private.” Vrabel “chose not to comment on Russini,” who last week resigned from her job at The Athletic (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/21).
Vrabel addresses media for first time since Russini photos
