Crissy Froyd on Russini-Vrabel Scandal (Getty Images) Crissy Froyd did not set out to become the loudest voice on the Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel controversy. The former USA Today Sports reporter was fired in April after publicly criticising Russini over photos that surfaced of the veteran NFL insider with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Since then, Froyd has continued speaking out while most of her peers have remained quiet. In a recent conversation with Mike J. Asti, she revealed just how jarring that silence has been.
Dianna Russini-Mike Vrabel controversy takes new turn as Crissy Froyd calls out media blackout
Crissy Froyd told Asti she genuinely believed others in the industry were saying the same things she was. That assumption turned out to be wrong.”It caught me off guard because I never expected this to happen,” Froyd said. “I thought that everyone, since all these people knew, and all these people told me from the time that I first hit the ground in the NFL. I was like, ‘Okay, everyone’s saying stuff, or at least I thought so.'”Her original post generated millions of views and pulled in interview requests from major outlets. For a few days, she assumed the wider media landscape was having the same conversation. Then reality set in.”It took me several days to realize that I literally was one of the only ones after she submitted that,” Froyd said. “I was like, this is insane.”She woke up to her friend telling her the post had taken off. “Then I started getting statement requests from Complex, E! News, The New York Post…” she added.Froyd has since raised broader concerns about the relationship between NFL reporters and league personnel. On The Howard Eskin Show on June 7, she claimed to know of at least six female reporters who allegedly engaged in conduct similar to what has been alleged against Russini. “There are at least six that I know of,” she said, before pulling back slightly. “To avoid any legal dispute, I can’t say any more than that. One of them starts with a J.”In a column for the Daily Mail, Froyd wrote that she has been told “by at least half a dozen female reporters” that they had relations with NFL staff and, in one case, with a prominent NFL head coach while actively covering that team. She also called out The Athletic’s Mike Silver for liking her bikini photos on Instagram shortly after she published that piece, describing the behaviour as targeted and strange, given the two do not follow each other.Both Vrabel and Dianna Russini have denied any wrongdoing, with Vrabel stating the photos show “a completely innocent interaction.” The Athletic, meanwhile, is conducting an internal investigation into Russini, though whether its findings will be made public remains unclear.It is worth noting that Froyd’s allegations, beyond her personal account, currently lack independent verification. But the volume of what she is claiming, and the near-total absence of pushback or parallel reporting from anyone else in NFL media, is itself a story.