Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini

Dianna Russini has been put on ice ... her employer, The Athletic, is doing a deep dive into the cozy pics of Mike Vrabel and the reporter, TMZ Sports has confirmed.

It's an about-face for the NY Times-owned outlet, which initially vehemently came to the defense of Russini, calling the pics "misleading" and saying they lacked "essential context."

But, sources tell us based on new information, the outlet is conducting a thorough investigation ... and with it, they've decided to shelf Russini as the process plays out.

The situation was described to us like this ... "[Dianna's] coverage is being reviewed. That process is expected to take time. She will not be reporting in the interim."

Everyone's talking about Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini ... but former NFL star-turned-analyst LeSean McCoy thinks the situation's a whole lotta nothing -- telling TMZ Sports he doesn't see anything wrong with the pics of the coach and reporter together.

We caught up with the Eagles great at LAX this week ... and asked him for his take on the duo appearing cozy while in Arizona for NFL meetings in pics obtained by Page Six.

A lot of folks are criticizing the Patriots' head coach and athletic journalist ... but Shady tells us as far as he knows, there's nothing, erm, shady, going on between the two married sports figures.

Dianna Russini's cozy outing with Mike Vrabel has folks revisiting her past comments about her marriage ... and while most of them seem like attempts at being funny, they're hitting different on Wednesday.

There's a clip of Russini on the "Stugotz and Company" show from February ... when she claimed her own mother felt her relationship was "falling apart" -- going as far as speculating Kevin Goldschmidt was seeing someone on the side while she's on the road for work.

There's another from her appearance on 'The Dan Le Batard Show,' where she said it was the night before her wedding when she did an interview with hunky quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ... and noted how her mom wanted her to marry him, and she saw the convo as "a sign"

Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini are doing their best to put out the massive fire that erupted after they were spotted holding hands recently ... insisting the pictures published on Tuesday don't tell the real story.

Page Six obtained images of the New England Patriots head coach and Athletic NFL reporter -- who are both married to other people -- spending time together at the Ambiente resort in Arizona when they were in town for NFL meetings last month ... showing them lounging by a pool and hugging on a rooftop.

The outlet also cited sources claiming the two were damn near inseparable throughout the day -- enjoying breakfast together before hopping in the hot tub ... and then soaking in the sunset later that night.