The NFL is being accused of paying ESPN to give its bombshell report on the Dianna Russini situation as little exposure as possible.

Russini, a former reporter for The Athletic, was photographed holding hands, interlocking fingers and hugging Mike Vrabel on a hotel roof in Arizona last week.

She was also pictured relaxing at a hotel pool with the New England Patriots head coach.

ESPN’s Ben Strauss wrote a report titled “Inside the fallout of the Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel photos,” heading into the weekend.

According to Strauss, the New York Post approached Russini and The Athletic before they released the photos.

He writes:

“In the days leading up to and following the Post’s report, Russini, Vrabel and executives from The Athletic, which is owned by the New York Times, scrambled to respond to an explosive story that raised questions about the relationship between one of the most high-profile reporters in the NFL and the coach of a flagship NFL franchise, according to interviews with a dozen people with knowledge of how the last week transpired, who spoke to ESPN on the condition of anonymity.”

Is ESPN Purposely Trying To Bury Its Own Dianna Russini Story?

While the story has gotten plenty of traction, Thomas R. Peterson points out that the network doesn’t seem intent on sharing it with as many readers as possible.

“They had Ben with 8.5 k followers share the story with no retweet from their million follower account,” he tweeted on Saturday. The NFL is paying ESPN to hide the story. This could be a HUGE tampering scandal,”

“On a Friday after 5 EST at that,” a user commented.

“A lot of people, especially the patriots fan base will say Eagles fans are psycho, but this is really suspect AF just saying,” another wrote.

“If it were the Eagles tampering, it would be a massive problem. But since it’s the Pats, nothing will happen to them,” said a third.

“Typical that @PabloTorre works with The Athletic and so is deathly silent. Pablo Torre doesn’t find out!!” one comment read.

Meanwhile, the NFL has decided not to review Vrabel’s behavior, despite the optics in light of its conduct policy.

Said policy states that “players, coaches and executives are required to avoid conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League.”

It really is a strange case.