Weeks after being fired from USA Today Sports for criticizing Dianna Russini, veteran reporter Crissy Froyd has resurfaced with new allegations tied to NFL coach Mike Vrabel’s alleged relationship with Russini—along with her own account of why she says she los
Crissy Froyd didn’t wait for the story to fade.
Weeks after she was fired from USA Today Sports for publicly criticizing Dianna Russini. the veteran NFL reporter has returned with a piece that frames her as still pushing for questions other reporters. she says. didn’t want to touch. The headline is explicit: “I was fired for exposing the NFL’s dirtiest sex secret. Now, I’m revealing everything… and naming names.”.
In the new column. Froyd ties her renewed attention to what happened during an NFL media moment on Wednesday. when Mike Vrabel—head coach of the New England Patriots—stepped up to microphones to face reporters. Froyd said she “held my breath,” expecting at least one direct question about the controversy surrounding Vrabel and Russini.
Instead, she wrote that the topic never surfaced.
“It appears that no one is particularly interested in getting to the bottom of this story,” Froyd claimed. She said that in the New England Patriots news conference room, “the one question was never asked,” and that reporters “danced around the topic.”
From there, Froyd broadened the focus beyond a single question and a single press conference. She argued that rumors involving reporters and NFL employees have circulated for years, and that media organizations have avoided confronting the issue directly.
Froyd said she first heard claims involving Vrabel and Russini around 2020. She wrote that she was told. “in explicit terms. ” that Vrabel—then coach of the Tennessee Titans—was carrying on a secret relationship with Russini. She later described encountering similar stories involving other reporters and league personnel.
She also said multiple female reporters told her privately about relationships with NFL staff members, including, “in one instance, a prominent head coach.”
Late in her column, Froyd connected the controversy to her own firing from USA Today. She argued that her criticism of Russini led to the loss of her job and said the fallout has affected how people view reporters who maintain professional boundaries.
“The Vrabel-Russini scandal also casts suspicion over the journalists and NFL teams that do things that right way. of which there are many. That’s unfair and demoralizing,” Froyd wrote. She said she tweeted about Russini’s resignation from The Athletic. and that the response was “resulting in my termination from USA Today.”.
Froyd returned to the same grievance she raised about Wednesday’s news conference: that, she says, not enough reporters are pursuing the matter.
“Even more disheartening, it appears that no one is particularly interested in getting to the bottom of this story,” she said.
Her column also includes allegations about her own experiences during her reporting career. Froyd claimed she personally faced inappropriate advances—describing professional interactions that allegedly shifted into personal invitations. She suggested that some coaches used subtle tactics to test boundaries with reporters covering their teams.
The push she is making now adds another layer to an ongoing debate inside NFL media circles, even as key figures involved have offered little new public response, according to her account.
Crissy Froyd Dianna Russini Mike Vrabel USA Today Sports The Athletic NFL media scandal Patriots news conference sports journalism