Mike Vrabel was not in the New England Patriots' draft room on Saturday. The team's first-year head coach — hired in January after the Bill Belichick era ended — announced Friday night that he would skip the third day of the 2026 NFL Draft to "seek counseling" beginning that weekend, and to spend it with his wife and family outside Massachusetts. The team's executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden ran Saturday's board in his absence.
The proximate trigger was the New York Post's release on Thursday of additional photos showing Vrabel and longtime NFL reporter Dianna Russini, both of whom are married, appearing to kiss at a New York City bar in 2020. TMZ followed Friday with photos of the pair at a casino together in 2024, shortly after Vrabel's firing from the Tennessee Titans. The Post's original story on April 7 had published photos of Vrabel and Russini holding hands and embracing at the Ambiente hotel in Sedona, Arizona, on March 28 — the weekend immediately before the NFL's annual league meetings opened in Phoenix.
Russini resigned from The Athletic on April 14 after an internal investigation. She deleted her X account on Friday afternoon, hours before Vrabel's counseling announcement. The NFL has not opened an investigation. Commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN on April 22 that the matter "doesn't fall under the NFL's personal conduct policy" and would be handled by the Patriots organization.
The Patriots issued a written statement on April 23 backing Vrabel: "The New England Patriots fully support Mike Vrabel's decision to prioritize his family first, as well as his own well-being. Mike has been open with us about his commitment to being the best version of himself for his family, this team and our fans." Robert Kraft has not commented publicly. Vrabel told ESPN he would remain in contact with the Patriots throughout Day 3 and expressed confidence in Wolf and Cowden to lead the room.
The pick that defined New England's Day 3 was made roughly four hours after the room opened Saturday morning. With pick 95 — the Patriots' lone third-round selection after a Day 2 trade-up — Wolf turned in the card for Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon. The 6-foot-7, 251-pound second-generation Fighting Irish player ran a 4.62 40 at the Combine and posted a 36-inch vertical, both elite numbers for the position. As a one-year starter at Notre Dame in 2025, he caught 32 passes for 482 yards and modeled his game on George Kittle. He has torn his right ACL twice — once in high school in 2021, once as a freshman at Notre Dame in 2022 — and the medical re-checks at the Combine cleared him on both reps.
Raridon's father played offensive line and long snapper at Notre Dame; his grandfather was a strength coach on Lou Holtz's 1988 national-title staff. The fit in New England is clean — Wolf and Cowden have publicly favored Y-tight-ends with vertical seam ability since the Belichick era, and Raridon is a near-perfect physical match for what offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels deployed in the team's 2003-2007 dynasty. Pats Pulpit graded the pick a clear winner; NBC Sports Boston gave it a B+.
The longer-term question for New England is not whether Wolf and Cowden ran a competent draft on Saturday — by all internal accounts, they did. The question is what Vrabel's relationship with the franchise looks like in May, June, and August, when the position is no longer one he can step away from. Vrabel told ESPN he had not committed to attending Patriots offseason program activities after the draft. The team has not announced a timeline. The next visible date on the calendar is the rookie minicamp on May 9-10, three weeks from Sunday. Whether Vrabel is on the field for it will be the next public signal.