Mike Silver sees Dianna Russini back in media soon: ‘Probably not as an insider’

The sports media world is waiting with bated breath to find out what Dianna Russini will do when she resurfaces.

A tell-all book or interview? A new gig with Meadowlark Media or Barstool Sports? A podcast all about football? A podcast about something else entirely? Or maybe she disappears into the ether?

Mike Silver briefly worked alongside Russini at The Athletic as a fellow NFL writer, and they collaborated on several pieces. After Russini resigned amid an investigation into her work related to the Mike Vrabel scandal, Silver defended his colleague, saying he was proud of the work they had done together.

“I loved working with Dianna and am bummed that she’s no longer at The Athletic,” he added recently on X, saying that he’d have more to say one day.

That day apparently arrived this week with an appearance on The Tom Tolbert Show. The longtime NFL writer opened up about his thoughts on Russini, offering a defense of her work ethic and abilities that was lost in the narratives of the scandal that sank her reporting career.

Mike Silver Shares His Thoughts on Dianna Russini

Presented by Fieldwork#nfl#mikesilver#diannarussini@MikeSilverpic.twitter.com/uU1TskN4Yd

— Tom Tolbert (@byronjr23) August 27, 2026

“Really good friend of mine,” he said of Russini. “Worked with her at The Athletic for too short of a time, unfortunately. Really, really proud of the journalism we did together and honestly just really bummed that we don’t get to continue it because we worked really well together.

“I don’t think people understand the level of elite that she was performing at in terms of keeping in touch with the really important people around the league. And I don’t mean just agents and transactional, like players, coaches, owners, all of it, talking, having real conversations with them every day and really knowing what was going on and competing at a very high level.

“I do miss having her a lot. Very bummed that it all imploded. She became a very high-profile person. I’m not a super judgy person. I would never comment on tabloid crap.”

Silver then offered his insight into what might come next for Russini, saying that while he’s not sure what she’ll do, she’s probably going to return in some form other than as an NFL insider.

“I do know her family. She’s got a great family,” he continued. “And so, you know, a lot of people have had a lot of thoughts about it. I’m not really getting into that, but I would say she is doing a lot better and her family’s doing well. And I do think she’s going to be back, probably not as an insider, at least in the short term. But I think she’ll be back in this realm, probably talking about football and other things pretty soon.”

One person who’s no doubt hoping that Russini’s return sticks to football and doesn’t get into the sordid details is Mike Vrabel.

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