$800,000 a year. That is what the New York Times reported The Athletic was paying Dianna Russini, its top NFL insider, before she resigned in April.
Fans online reacted fast, and many asked whether she was worth it. “A bit more than I would’ve guessed, but makes sense as she was a senior reporter brought over from another network….tough job to lose,” one wrote. Another put the stakes this way: “Dianna Russini was making nearly $1 million per year as a senior NFL insider of The Athletic. $800,000. Losing a job like that the way she did is rough.”
Others were less kind about her output. “Her weekly articles were just regurgitating news anyone on twitter would have seen already and just adding an opinion to it,” a user wrote. “Was there any news she actually broke aside from coming from Vrabel?”
How she left
Russini made her name at ESPN and joined The Athletic a few years ago, where she became its go-to source for NFL scoops. Her time there ended after Page Six published photos of her at a hotel with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, who is married.
In her resignation letter she said she stood behind every story she had published, and she called the media frenzy after the Page Six report “unmoored from the facts.” She stepped aside before her contract was due to expire on June 30. This week she told the Times the scandal had a “significant impact” on her, professionally and personally.
Some fans have blamed Vrabel’s damage control as a total fumble. Others are waiting for the Times editors to deliver an update on their investigation.
