As the Patriots prepare to play their first game after an offseason that presented an unexpected distraction, the issue will have at least one more development, eventually.
The New York Post, which pulled the first pin on the Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel grenade five months and two days ago, reports that Russini will tell her side of the story upon taking her next job.
The goal, per the report, will be to “speak on the matter and move past it once and for all.”
Whether she’ll ever truly move past it remains to be seen. If/when she reactivates her Twitter account, any and all reporting or commentary will be met with a torrent of the cesspool-style responses for which the platform is notorious.
The bigger question will be the content of her side of the story. Depending on what she says, it could spark more questions and potential scrutiny of Vrabel, who has emerged from the scandal largely unscathed professionally.
Then there’s the matter of whether her side of the story will be viewed as credible. Given her strong denials, coupled with Vrabel’s ensuing words and actions (e.g., missing the third day of the draft for counseling), a continued insistence that there was and is nothing to see here could be hard for most to accept, given the photos and video everyone by now has seen.
Complicating matters, when it comes to believing whatever she may say, is the claim that she FaceTimed a coach to get her out of a ticket for texting while driving. The bodycam footage showed that this simply did not happen.
Before anyone knows whether to believe what she says, they’ll need to hear what she has to say. It could be a tough sell. And if it’s handled with the same degree of P.R. acumen that accompanied the early days of the controversy, it could ultimately make things worse, not better.
