The great riddle for so many retired athletes is how to create a life after they’re done playing that doesn’t feel like an afterthought. The former New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan, who retired in 2008, has solved this riddle more successfully than most. In addition to being an analyst on Fox’s Sunday N.F.L. telecasts and hosting the channel’s Thursday coverage, the 48-year-old with a gentle-giant personality has found an outlet as a host of “Good Morning America,” the daytime talk show “Strahan, Sara and Keke” and the “$100,000 Pyramid” game show. That’s not to say his transition to television has been without its own version of bumps and bruises: In 2016, he abruptly left “Live! With Kelly and Michael,” a move that occurred amid rumors of tension with his co-host, Kelly Ripa. “It was tougher in the TV business,” Strahan said, “to see a certain kind of competitiveness than it was in sports.”

How different do the stakes of working in network TV feel from the stakes of playing in the N.F.L.? The stakes are definitely different. Football will be the hardest thing I will ever do when it comes to work, because it requires you, mentally, to take yourself where you never thought you could go physically. That’s not required now. But the mental aspect of working in TV is like it was in football. I don’t want to be on the show and feel like everyone else is carrying me. I want us all to be successful. I’ve done things where I went in with team concepts, and I got there and realized it’s not about team. It’s selfish, and I don’t operate well under that.

The selfishness you just described — were you talking about sports or television? Both. In sports, you can put as many great players as you want on a team, but if one guy out there is worried about himself, it will not work. Then on television, I’ve had jobs where I got there and felt like: Wow, I didn’t know I was supposed to be a sidekick. I thought I was coming here to be a partner.

Maybe I’m reading between the lines incorrectly, but I’m understanding that as a description of your experience on “Live! With Kelly and Michael.” [Laughs.] It was an experience!

It’s no secret that toward the end of your time on that show, you and Kelly Ripa didn’t have the best relationship. But whatever tension was there didn’t translate to the show itself. What does that say about the nature or value of authenticity on television? Well, I remained the same person I was from Day 1. One thing I will not do is alter my attitude for somebody else’s. I learned so much from Kelly, so much from Michael Gelman. When it was time to go, it was time to go. Certain things that were going on behind the scenes just caught up.

Strahan with Kelly Ripa on the set of “Live! With Kelly and Michael” in 2012. Donna Svennevik/Walt Disney Television, via Getty Images

Was your departure sloppily handled? It could have been handled better. I didn’t wake up and say, “I want a job at ‘G.M.A.’” I was asked to do it by the people who run the network. It was really not a choice. It was a request. But it was treated as if I was the guy who walked in and said, “I’m leaving.” That part was totally misconstrued, mishandled in every way. People who should have handled it better have all apologized, but a lot of the damage had already been done. For me, it was like: Move on. Success is the best thing. Just keep on moving.

While you were still on the show did you and Kelly ever talk about whatever your issues were? One thing I tried to do is have a meeting every few weeks with her. We met a few times, and that was fine. But then eventually she said she didn’t need to meet. Can’t force somebody to do something they don’t want to do.

You said you learned things from Kelly about being on television. Like what? Oh, I’m sure the same things she learned from Regis Philbin. If you look at the show, it really hasn’t changed since Regis started the damn thing. He created this formula. It’s kind of a plug-and-play. You learn how to craft a story. “What did you do last night?” “Oh, I had a glass of water.” But you learn to tell the story to make it seem like the most interesting glass of water. Those are things that I learned from her. She’s brilliant in that way. If people think, Oh, he hates her — I don’t hate her. I do respect her for what she can do at her job. I cannot say enough about how good she is at her job.

Is there something different about the nature of competition between successful athletes and people who are successful on television? If you played a team sport growing up and you go to a job that requires working with other people, it’s not the same as somebody who is like, O.K., I got to bump you out of the way in order to keep my status. People who have that attitude where they’ve got to be guarded about what they have — I don’t look at them and think they’re bad people, but that doesn’t mean you have to treat people like crap. I’d rather have my conscience intact more than I would rather have a job.

Now that you’ve been in TV for a while, is there anything you understand about the N.F.L. as an entertainment business that you didn’t understand when you were playing? When I was a player, I was so focused on just playing. Now guys are so aware of the media. They’re so aware of a brand. I don’t look at myself and go, “My brand.” I hate that word. I’m a human being who happens to do what I do. It’s not a brand. It’s me. And being on the other side of the media, I see how narratives are created. It’s such a cancel culture that even though you try to control your narrative, one little thing in the media can cancel you.

Strahan hosting “The $100,000 Pyramid” in 2016. Walt Disney Television, via Getty Images

It’s interesting to hear what you just said about personal brands, given that you have a clothing brand that is literally named after you. Two of them, actually. Do they say anything about you? Everything I’ve done has been authentic to me. It’s all clothing that’s comfortable, familiar. The Everyman’s uniform. Which is how I see myself: an Everyman’s man.

You mentioned cancel culture: Is Colin Kaepernick’s inability to land with a team the N.F.L.’s equivalent of canceling him? In some ways. He’s such a polarizing figure. I applaud him. He could have easily sat around and made his eight-figure salary, but it wasn’t about the money. I believe the guy is skilled enough to be in the N.F.L., but from an ownership standpoint, it’s not so much about thinking he doesn’t have the skills. It’s a matter of how it affects your team. He can bring so much with him, which could be a distraction.

But owners like Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder aren’t exactly guys who are scared of controversy. So is that fear what’s keeping Kaepernick out of the league, or is it more likely that owners disagree with him politically? Maybe it’s a bit of both. I can’t speak for the owners, but it’s a different type of controversy with Kaepernick. The firestorm that’s attached to him is a lot different from the firestorm that’s attached to somebody who has committed crimes but still gets opportunities. It’s a very unique situation. I don’t think any of the owners are willing to embrace it right now. We’ve seen domestic-violence issues and drug issues, and for some reason that doesn’t strike people the same way as Kaepernick taking a knee. One thing that bothered me about it all is that he took a knee for racial injustice, but it was turned into “he hates his country.” That’s not the case. If you’re going to kick a guy, at least understand what he was doing.

Race is obviously a factor in the Kaepernick situation. Do you find the N.F.L.’s racial dynamics problematic? Race is always there. Guys would sit and go, “I seem to have to go out here and fight really hard to get a new contract, but that guy seemed to have it handed to him.” Not saying that everything is race-related, but there are definitely some cases where you look, and you go: “I understand. That’s how it works.”

Is the disparity between the percentage of N.F.L. head coaches who are black and the percentage of players who are black one of those cases? The Rooney rule was created to make change, and there have been times where we’ve had more minority coaches then than we have now. The current situation has been disheartening, because you’ve had five head-coach job openings, and guys who are offensive coordinators or defensive coordinators were passed over. Joe Judge with the Giants, for example: He was a wide-receiver coach; how do you move up and trump someone who has been a coordinator? You never see a black coach who makes that jump. But how do you tell the owner of a team that you have to hire a minority? I don’t know. But I’m very optimistic. You want to win, and the only way you win in this league is by having coaches that relate to the players.

I’ve watched a ton of your “Good Morning America” interviews, and the one you did with Kevin Hart stood out. You pushed him on things in a way that felt atypical for you. I’m friends with Kevin, but in that moment I’m not going to be buddy-buddy with him. For me, I’m not trying to ask questions that put you on the spot and be self-serving and make everybody go, Oh, that’s a great interview. I’m not trying to be the focus. You’re the focus. And I’m not going to be aggressive. I want to ask you in the way in which I would want to be asked.

Strahan with Kevin Hart on the set of “Good Morning America” in 2019. Paula Lobo/Walt Disney Television, via Getty Images

But when you interviewed Tom Brady, for example, you didn’t bring up any of the tougher things that could’ve been brought up with him — Spygate or Deflategate. So what determines what approach you take with which subject? To ask Tom Brady about that at that moment would have been tasteless. To take that moment when he is celebrating a win in the Super Bowl to go, “Hey, what about this stuff?” — I felt like that would have been kind of trying to steal a moment that wasn’t mine.

Do you see yourself as a journalist? One of the hardest things at first when I went to “G.M.A.” was trying to figure out where I fit in, because in your head, you’re like, People will go, “He’s not a journalist.” But journalism and the way news is delivered now is totally different from what it used to be. No one is really interested in seeing the same guy sit there in a monotone voice with a suit and tie. Once I understood that people wanted diversity, and diversity in how the news is delivered, and that I fit that bill, I’ve been comfortable. There’s nothing I don’t feel I can do.

What about your work on with Fox on “N.F.L. Sunday”? Is that journalism or entertainment? It’s entertainment. We are mostly just the opinion of the game. You don’t want to sit in a meeting five days a week and then on Sunday turn on the TV and feel as if you’re in another meeting when you’re watching a football show. We shouldn’t talk about man coverage and the split back. It’s not supposed to be that complicated. It’s very simple. “Hey, that guy, great player, he needs to do this in order for them to win.” Then you throw in some fun stories like Terry Bradshaw does, and there you go — walla walla woop, pull it out of the hat and you got a TV show.

What’s one thing you’d change about the N.F.L.? It would be better benefits for guys who played in the past, where they have medical coverage, they have benefits and they’re not struggling from one little check to the next. These are the guys who built the game. The guys playing now are benefiting from the guys who put up labor fights. I’m not saying that everybody should get a million-dollar check, but guys should be able to at least go get treated for these injuries and some of the problems they incurred from working in the business.

Michael Strahan celebrating after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Superbowl XLII. Tom Hauck/Bloomberg, via Getty Images

And how would you fix the Giants? Oof. All right, the things I like: Daniel Jones. Excited about Saquon Barkley. If we can get Evan Engram to stay healthy, he is a dynamic tight end. We need some work on the offensive line, and we need a big-play receiver, but offensively I feel good about the team. Defense is where I struggle, because there are times I’m watching, and I’m going, Wow, this is pretty bad. We don’t have a playmaker, per se, on defense, and that’s been a little disheartening. Where’s the guy who inspires everybody to play better? Front-office wise, I don’t know what their plan is. I mean, we got rid of Jackrabbit, traded Snacks, got rid of Odell Beckham Jr. We got rid of a lot of guys who were opinionated, but you’ve got to have a soul to your team. Can’t have a bunch of nice guys and win. It doesn’t work. We need to find some dogs.

Do you regret the way you tackled Brett Favre to get the sack record? Twenty-two and a half, baby. You don’t like it, go beat it. You know what’s so weird about that? I got the sack, and then there was so much criticism that it wasn’t important to me. I was like, Take the damn sack away if you have so much trouble with it. The one guy who had the biggest opinion of all was Warren Sapp.

You two have jawed at each other over the years. We did this competition called the lineman challenge. The N.F.L. used to do it at the Super Bowl. He had won it a few years. I asked to be in it, and they were like, No, we’re full. But then somebody pulled out, so I got a call about going in. I saw Sapp before, and I was like, “This skills-competition thing: Are guys working out for it?” “It’s casual,” he said. “Nobody’s really competing.” Man, I got there, and those cats were stretching, doing all these exercises, going crazy. I’m going, This is not what I’ve been freakin’ told! But I beat him. Ever since then, he’s had a problem with me. I never understood where his animosity came from. I think it stemmed from jealousy in a lot of ways, which is sad.

This interview will appear just before the Super Bowl. What’s a memory you have from one of the Super Bowls you played in that you’ve never shared publicly? When you’re on that field, you don’t hear jack out of 80,000 people. Nothing. All I hear is Tom Brady and our linebacker calling the shots. I remember hitting Brady, and I thought: This is not real. They must be tricking us to let us hit Tom Brady this much. I think we realized we had him when he started screaming at his guys. But what a great feeling. Nothing better than winning a Super Bowl.

David Marchese is a staff writer and the Talk columnist for the magazine.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity from two conversations.