Russini Lied...again...and the truth was more innocent.
When The New York Times published an article about their former employee’s inappropriate conduct while working for the media company, they didn’t anticipate a guilty admission for something she didn’t do.
On February 5th, 2026, while appearing on the Stugotz and Company podcast, former NFL Insider for The Athletic, Dianna Russini described an instance when she was pulled over for texting and driving in New Jersey. She was breaking the news that the Buffalo Bills had fired Sean McDermott over X. Russini said that after being pulled over, she asked the police officer who his favorite NFL coach was. The officer told her, and then she FaceTimed the coach, who then vouched for the AP Coach of the Year voter, ultimately talking her out of a ticket.
The story is a good example of Russini abusing her position as an NFL media personality. It was an effective way to frame the beginning and ending of their article. Her actions, the way she described them on the podcast, don’t demonstrate those of a journalist living up to The New York Times standards. The problem - that story never happened!
After The Center Square obtained and published the body camera footage of the actual traffic stop, we learned that while her real world actions were still not acceptable, they weren’t nearly as bad as the ones she concocted. The true story is that Russini simply name dropped several coaches in the NFL and was let go with a warning. A perfectly acceptable response from the police officer. They don’t always need to issue tickets to get the point across and there’s no reason to believe if she wasn’t an NFL Insider, he’d have treated the situation any differently.
The irony of Russini’s lie is that her real world actions were inappropriate, but to a much less degree than her made up ones. You tell me, what’s worse - abusing your position as an NFL Insider to get a coach on the phone to get out of a ticket, or name dropping your way out of one? Neither is great, but you can hardly hold the true story against her. Nobody wants to get a ticket. But the fact that she went on a podcast and lied is exactly why she’s unfit for a career in journalism. Journalists are supposed to have credibility. Russini has done just about everything imaginable to lose that.
My biggest issue with the true story is that she put other drivers in danger so she could make a post to X. If it’s that important, pull over! Other drivers’ safety, nor her own, is less important than beating Schefter to social media by a couple of minutes. The police officer told her that he was following her for a while. The fact that she hadn’t noticed a marked police car following her speaks to how unaware of her surroundings she was.
When I was a police officer I rarely pulled people over for cell phone infractions because it’s hard to see exactly what someone is looking at inside of their car. Looking toward your feet for a moment doesn’t convince me you’re looking at a phone. If I see the phone in your hand, different story. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the reason the officer was following her for so long. He needed to see the phone first. Second, find a safe place to pull her over.
There’s more to this story and others. Be sure to check out my article on The Football Things related to the Dianna Russini Traffic Stop.
Written by Seattle Mike