Eliot Wolf: Patriots, Mike Vrabel had no contact during NFL draft Day 3

Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald on Apr 25, 2026

Published in Football

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Before the first round of the NFL draft, Mike Vrabel said he would communicate with the Patriots’ front-office leaders if necessary while he was away with his family during Saturday’s final rounds.

Turns out, the two sides never spoke about the draft.

Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf told reporters Saturday night that team leadership decided it would be best for Vrabel to focus on his family while he was out of town and seeking counseling. Vrabel’s decision to step away came mid-week after more photos of him and former NFL insider Dianna Russini surfaced showing the two of them at a New York City bar in 2020. Those photos followed others published as part of a bombshell story that sparked a three-week controversy around the head coach and initiated an investigation that led to Rusinni’s resignation at The Athletic.

“So last night, we kind of talked through things and made the decision that the time away really needs to be time away,” Wolf said. “So, we were not in contact with Mike today, other than some just ‘hope everything’s going OK’ kind of text early this morning.”

Wolf’s comments contradicted an ESPN report during that draft that the two sides were in “constant communication.” Asked at the start of the seventh round if the Patriots had spoken with Vrabel, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden deflected saying the team wanted to keep the specifics of those interactions in-house. Both executives expressed confidence that the war room operated well without Vrabel, who had significant input on how their board was assembled and their strategy on Day 3.

“He knows our process,” Wolf said. “And again, we talked about what kind of players we needed to add, and we knew what kind of players that he liked. And obviously, we drafted some of the guys that he had an affinity for today.”

Wolf went so far as to call it “business as usual.”

“A lot of conversations with the coaching staff, a lot of conversations with the scouting staff. Day 3 of the draft is really the scouts’ day,” he said. “It’s the chance for some of these unheralded players to have the opportunity to get drafted, maybe some of the guys that some of the coaches didn’t even look at. So, I just want to thank everyone, from top to bottom, of our football organization. It was a really good process all weekend.”