Are Mike Vrabel, Dianna Russini Dating? The Story Behind the Sedona Photos Explained

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and New York Times NFL reporter Dianna Russini were photographed holding hands and embracing at a luxury resort in Sedona, Arizona, on Saturday, 28 March, according to images and eyewitness accounts obtained by Page Six that have fuelled questions over whether the pair are dating.

The photos of Vrabel and Russini emerged after the coach travelled to Arizona for a scouting event at Arizona State University in Tempe on Friday, 27 March, before heading roughly 125 miles north to Ambiente, an adults-only boutique hotel that markets itself as a romantic retreat. Russini, a high-profile NFL insider for The Athletic, was also in Arizona ahead of the NFL's annual meetings at the Biltmore hotel in Phoenix, where owners, coaches and reporters gathered days later.

Sedona Photos Put Russini and Vrabel Under Scrutiny

The Page Six pictures show Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini on what appears to be the rooftop of a private two-person bungalow at Ambiente, with glass walls and sweeping views of Sedona's Red Rock formations. In one sequence, the pair stand face-to-face at sunset, their fingers intertwined. In another, they hug as they look out towards the Brins Mesa mountain range.

The resort's rooftop decks are only accessible from inside the bungalows, which can cost up to $2,160 a night. Ambiente openly trades on its reputation as a couples' destination, boasting on its website of 158 proposals and thousands of anniversaries and honeymoons celebrated on the property. It is not the kind of place people generally associate with casual work coffees.

A hotel guest quoted by Page Six said Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, had breakfast together on the restaurant patio at around 10.30am that Saturday, before moving to the pool and hot tub for about an hour and a half, sitting and lounging side by side. Later that day, the same witness said they saw the pair again on the rooftop, where they appeared to share a brief dance.

Crucially, Page Six reports that three separate eyewitnesses told the outlet they did not see anyone else with the duo during the day. One, asked if Vrabel had been part of a wider group of friends, replied: 'No, he was with a girl.' The outlet also notes that the photographs it reviewed from various stages of the day show only the coach and the reporter.

The Question Of 'Innocent Interaction'

Both Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini strongly reject any suggestion they were on a romantic trip and insist they were with others at Ambiente, arguing the Sedona photos offer a misleading snapshot.

'These photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. This doesn't deserve any further response,' Vrabel told Page Six on Tuesday.

Russini gave a similar defence, stressing that colleagues and friends were nearby but simply not captured in frame. 'The photos don't represent the group of six people who were hanging out during the day,' she said. 'Like most journalists in the NFL, reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.'

A source close to Russini said she had been staying at Ambiente as part of a hiking trip with two female friends. A friend of Vrabel's told the outlet that the coach had driven up to Sedona for the day with another pal, that they spent time with Russini and her group, and that both men later drove back to their own hotel, which was around two hours away.

Those accounts sit uneasily beside the unnamed witnesses who insist they saw no such group. Without video or hotel records in the public domain, it remains impossible to independently verify who, if anyone, else was present that weekend. Nothing beyond the photographs and conflicting testimonies has been confirmed, so any speculation about the nature of their relationship should be treated with caution.

The professional stakes are not trivial. Russini is married to Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt, whom she wed in 2020; they have two children. She has previously described him on Instagram as 'you and only you, for me, forever.' Vrabel has been married to his wife, Jen, since 1999, the couple having met as student athletes at Ohio State University. They marked their 25th wedding anniversary in 2024 and have two sons.

There is also a question of optics. Russini is a senior NFL insider for The Athletic, which was acquired by the New York Times in 2022 and now supplies the paper's sports coverage. She regularly covers the Patriots and has a long working history with Vrabel, dating back to her time at ESPN when she was assigned to the Tennessee Titans beat after he became head coach in 2018.

Steven Ginsberg, executive editor of The Athletic, publicly backed his reporter. 'These photos are misleading and lack essential context,' he said. 'These were public interactions in front of many people. Dianna is a premier journalist covering the NFL and we're proud to have her at The Athletic.'

The episode lands in a media environment where high-profile journalists' relationships with sources are scrutinised almost as closely as the stories they break. Russini has spoken openly about the pressure to cultivate powerful contacts in a hyper-competitive NFL scoop culture, recounting how a head coach once chided her for not calling him enough and warned she would 'drown' if she was not more aggressive in building relationships.

Vrabel, meanwhile, is in a rarefied position as head coach of one of the NFL's wealthiest franchises, the six-time Super Bowl-winning Patriots, whom he led to another Super Bowl appearance earlier this year. Forbes values the team at around $9 billion, with Vrabel believed to earn about $15 million a year.

After leaving Sedona, Vrabel travelled to Phoenix for the NFL Competition Committee meeting at the historic Biltmore, and Russini was among the reporters on site as owners and executives discussed rule changes. On Thursday, she co‑bylined a dispatch on the meetings for The Athletic.

Whether the Sedona images are remembered as a storm in a teacup or something more consequential may depend on evidence that has not yet surfaced. For now, all that is definitively on record are the photos, the setting, and two sharply competing versions of what exactly they show.