Dianna Russini Has Blunt Admission On Why She Left ESPN

Roughly two weeks ago, it was announced that NFL reporter Dianna Russini would leave ESPN to join The Athletic. 

During this week's edition of Football Morning in America, longtime columnist Peter King revealed that Russini will be one of the highest-paid writers in the history of the New York Times now that she's joining The Athletic. 

King also revealed that Russini left ESPN because there was no elevation within the company.

“I did walk away,” Russini said, via NBC Sports. “It wasn’t a situation where ESPN didn’t want me. I love ESPN. They’ve given me so much opportunity and the people I’ve worked with were incredible. It was a really difficult decision for me, for my family. But it really came down to recognizing at ESPN I wasn’t going to change roles. There was no elevation there for me based on my conversations with the company. They did not have a vision outside of what I currently do. 

"The Athletic, through conversations I had with all the people in charge, just has an endless amount of roles and ideas for me. They want information. They want a storyteller. They want someone with personality. Once I realized they were pretty much handing me over a blank sheet of paper that basically just said go be who you want to be, I realized that this could change my life. The Athletic showed that they value me more than ESPN, for sure."

That's a fair reason for Russini to leave ESPN.  

Russini will be tasked with elevating The Athletic's NFL coverage for the foreseeable future.