Tom Brady’s first season in the FOX booth gave critics plenty to dissect. Pablo Torre was actually encouraged by what he saw next.
During an August 27 podcast appearance on Megan Rapinoe’s “Why Are You Like This?”, Torre praised Brady for treating broadcasting like another craft he had to learn. What bothered him was the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s very different approach to staying visible away from football, particularly the theatrical feud with Logan Paul.
Pablo Torre Says Brady’s Logan Paul Act Is ‘Beneath’ Him
Torre said he found Brady’s broadcasting journey “very endearing” because the former quarterback appeared vulnerable about the difficulty of the job and showed a “relentless desire to be better at it.”
Then came what Torre viewed as the opposite problem. “The opposite problem is you’re like now hustling for likes and engagement alongside the Paul brothers,” Torre said on the podcast. “And I’m like, this is beneath you actually. And it’s depressing for someone like that to not intuitively feel that.”
Torre described the contrast as “disappointing” and “depressing.” His criticism was not that Brady should disappear after retirement. It was that someone with Brady’s résumé should not need a manufactured wrestling-style moment to generate attention.
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The moment at the center of the discussion occurred on July 17 at Fanatics Fest in New York. Brady and Paul jawed onstage before Brady reached around Karl-Anthony Towns and slapped the WWE star.
An NFL report noted that multiple angles made the contact look increasingly pulled, fueling speculation that the confrontation was part of a storyline. That theory was hardly created from nothing. One day earlier, Brady told WWE star Cody Rhodes that he wanted an invitation into wrestling and believed he could handle “at least one match.”
Torre Separates Brady the Broadcaster from Brady the Showman
The criticism carried more weight because Torre was complimentary about another part of Brady’s post-playing career. Brady remains FOX’s lead NFL analyst, a job he began in 2024.
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Torre respected that Brady did not simply lean on his football résumé once he entered the booth. He saw someone acknowledging how difficult broadcasting is and putting in the work to improve.
Rapinoe made a similar distinction during the same conversation. She praised Brady for getting better on television but questioned “the slap and the fake beef,” calling the bit “bizarre” in a related PFN story.
Brady also remains a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, so his post-football life is hardly short on relevance. The Paul storyline has nevertheless continued to blur sports, entertainment, and promotion.
Torre’s objection came down to stature. Brady spent more than two decades building a legacy that does not require engagement tricks to keep people interested. Watching him act like it does, Torre argued, is precisely what makes the whole thing so disappointing.
