Michael Strahan had a glorious NFL career with the New York Giants, winning the Super Bowl in his final season. Since hanging up his cleats, Strahan has built a successful second career across several different ventures. However, there is still one career path that the former defensive end wants nothing to do with, even if it’s something many former NFL athletes partake in.

“Emmitt Smith won the first year he came to New York,” said Michael Strahan on The Bobbycast Podcast, while talking about NFL legend and former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith’s time on Dancing With the Stars. “And I took him to dinner. And literally, we couldn’t walk into a restaurant. Like women getting up from each table we passed, and he’d have to dance with each one of them to get just to the table. I’m like, “Can we just eat?”

Strahan further continued, saying, “every athlete I talked to said, ‘Man, that is the freakiest, hardest thing we’ve ever done.’ And I said, ‘That’s why I’ll never be on the show.’ I don’t wanna work that hard anymore.”

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Although a former football player and an NFL legend himself, Strahan has always been valiant in chasing entrepreneurial ideas. Following his passion as an entrepreneur, the former NY Giants player has developed a prolific portfolio spanning media, fashion, and investments.

The Super Bowl XLII winner has co-founded SMAC Entertainment and Religion of Sports, launched lifestyle and apparel brands: Michael Strahan Brand and MSX, and invested in companies like 100 Coconuts, Cincoro Tequila, and Jinx. Additionally, he has also been a guest on ABC’s Shark Tank and has said that he loves entrepreneurship.

However, when asked about stepping into dancing shoes, Michael Strahan has always stayed miles away from that path. He took Emmitt Smith as an example, who competed in Dancing With The Stars season 3 with partner Cheryl Burke.

Moreover, there is also an injury risk associated with dancing that Strahan may not want to experience again. When former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis participated in season 8 of the show, he had to withdraw after three weeks following a foot injury. He tore three tendons while practicing cha-cha.

Evidently, Strahan’s plate is already full, emphasizing why he will not join a demanding reality TV show such as Dancing With the Stars and may even step back from long-standing commitments.

Michael Strahan may retire from Good Morning America

Besides all of his entrepreneurial quests, Michael Strahan has also been a part of ABC’s Good Morning America for more than a decade. His tenure at ABC began in 2012 with ‘Live! With Kelly and Michael,’ and after joining GMA as a special contributor in 2014, he was promoted to a full-time anchor by September 2016.

Recently, when Strahan appeared on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, the elder brother asked him what’s next for Strahan’s career, to which he replied, “Retirement.”

He further added, “I love Fox. I truly love that. But you work so much, I want to go here, I want to go there, and I can’t do a lot of things because I’ve got these commitments and schedules and stuff. At this point, I have to look at the time lived and the time left.”

The 54-year-old has been a popular face on the show, but whenever he chooses to retire, he will not disappear completely. The NFL legend clarified this point while talking to the former Eagles center.

“I’m not just going to completely disappear,” Strahan said. “I’ll do Fox until they throw me off of Fox. I don’t want to be 80 years old on Fox, but I’ll stick around a little bit longer.”

While Strahan didn’t name GMA specifically, his already-reduced schedule at the ABC morning show, down from five days a week since last year, has fueled speculation that the daily program would be the first of his major commitments to go, especially when compared to his seasonal role at FOX.

With his family life taking priority and a desire to reduce his workload, Strahan’s hint that retirement is ‘sooner than people think’ puts his future at both ABC and FOX squarely in the spotlight.