Dianna Russini is an NFL reporter and host contributing to ESPN’s year-round pro football coverage. She joined the company in July 2015. Russini’s multi-faceted role includes reporting, news-breaking, hosting, analysis and features. She contributes to NFL Live, Sunday NFL Countdown, Fantasy Football Now, Get Up, SportsCenter, and ESPN Radio. 

Russini has covered the Super Bowl the last two seasons for ESPN. She worked her first Monday Night Football game in 2019 as the sideline reporter for ESPN’s season-opening contest between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. She also worked NFL game broadcasts for ESPN Radio and was the reporter for the first season of XFL games on ABC in 2020. 

Russini has secured dozens of interviews for Sunday NFL Countdown hours before kick-off. Coaches like Steelers Mike Tomlin, Browns Kevin Stefanski, Titans Mike Vrabel, Colts Frank Reich, and Super Bowl Champion Rams head coach Sean McVay have joined her on the field.  

Russini has broken multiple NFL stories, including in 2022 the Eagles trading for A.J. Brown from the Titans during the first round of the NFL Draft, Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers new contract details, Rams Matthew Stafford and Robert Woods injuries during the 2021 season, how Tampa Bay landed Tom Brady, Julio Jones signing with the Titans, and Trent Williams re-signing with the 49ers and becoming the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history in 2021. 

Part of her ever-growing ESPN role, Russini debuted as an Around the Horn panelist in 2019. She has also hosted ESPN digital shows, including a 2019 ESPYS Red Carpet special with Cassidy Hubbarth and Katie Nolan. In 2020, she contributed to Monday Tailgate, which streamed on ESPN social platforms and the ESPN app prior to MNF. 

Originally a SportsCenter anchor, Russini transitioned to her current ESPN role in 2017. 

Prior to ESPN, Russini was the main sports anchor at WRC-TV (NBC4) in Washington, D.C 

Russini also worked as an anchor and reporter for both news and sports for NBC Connecticut before going to the nation’s capital. She covered the Boston Marathon bombing, reported live from Boston Garden at the first professional sporting event after the bombing and was one of the first reporters on the scene during the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. 

She has also worked for Comcast Sports in Seattle, WNBC in New York City, and News 12 Westchester, N.Y. She started her TV career interning at ABC News for Diane Sawyer and WABC. 

A native of Bronx, N.Y., Russini grew up in Norwood, N.J., where she was an All-State athlete in four sports – soccer, basketball, softball and track. She attended college at George Mason University where she was a Division 1 soccer player for four years. Russini is married and a mother to a son named Michael.