Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The damage control effort around the Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel scandal has been nothing short of a disaster thus far. According to reports, it’s been that way since the start, too.
According to a reports, CAA (Creative Arts Agency) — the high-profile celebrity agency that represents the former ESPN and The Athletic reporter — began contacting crisis communications firms within hours of the Ambiente Sedona photos surfacing in earlier this month.
Dianna Russini’s agency CAA reportedly had a difficult time finding a PR firm that was willing to take on the scandal
Sources allegedly told a San Francisco 49ers content creator that the response was “tepid,” encouraging, as multiple firms passed on the opportunity. Furthermore, the PR firm that did decide to engage with the scandal reportedly provided the advice of “lay low and don’t work for a year.”
Per an industry source with direct knowledge of the situation:
Creative Artist Agency (CAA), which represents Dianna Russini reached out to MULTIPLE crisis communication experts within hours of learning of the Sedona photos.
CAA received a “tepid” response from one that wasn’t…
— Tony Farmer (@Tonysmarkettips) April 29, 2026
The rollout of Russini’s damage control has been far from smooth, if not outright haphazard. Before the photos were published of she and Mike Vrabel canoodling in Arizona, she coordinated statements with Vrabel that attempted to downplay the situation. She claimed a group of six people had been present, while Vrabel called the implication that there was anything illicit happening between the pair “laughable.”
While The Athletic initially backed her publicly before, the New York Times-owned outlet reversed that decision and opened an investigation into Russini’s conduct. She resigned not long after that.
Last week, she deleted her X/Twitter account and made her Instagram private after Vrabel’s press conference admission, which coincided with the publication of the pair at a New York City bar in 2020 and a casino in Mississippi in 2024.
Meanwhile, the odds of Vrabel either being fired or resigning as the Patriots head coach have been steadily growing on prediction markets, with reports indicating that the Pats would be eyeing former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin should the situation with the 2025 AP NFL Coach of the Year.