From NFL Stars to Daytime Hosts

FROM PEOPLE MAGAZINE

After years as pro athletes, Nate Burleson and Akbar Gbajabiamila are following in the TV footsteps of fellow former football and Good Morning America host, Michael Strahan

CBS Mornings’ Nate Burleson

Nate Burleson spent 11 years in the NFL, but the former football star, 40, always aspired to a career beyond sports. “I started creating an exit strategy early,” he says. “When I first got in, I was told that the average career was two and a half, three years. So right around year two, I started thinking about the next chapter.” After playing for the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, Burleson retired in 2014 and landed a broadcasting job with the NFL Network. “In the words of Lebron [James], ‘I want to be more than an athlete,’” he says. Now the father of three is the latest cohost of the newly renamed CBS Mornings’ (formerly CBS This Morning), alongside Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil. “I feel like I joined a championship team on their way to a Super Bowl.” - Emily Strohm

The Talk’s Akbar Gbajabiamila

After retiring from professional football in 2008, Akbar Gbajabiamila called Michael Strahan for career advice. “He really kind of laid the blueprint for athletes transitioning into media at a higher level,” says Gbajabiamila, 42. A few years later he shadowed Strahan while Strahan was working on Live with Kelly and Michael and later on Good Morning America. "I'm forever grateful for that," says the father of four, whose former NFL teams included the Oakland Raiders. Now a TV pro in his own right, Gbajabiamila has hosted America Ninja Warrior since 2013 and is joining CBS's The Talk (returning September 13) with cohosts Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and Jerry O'Connell. The job is another dream come true. "It takes me back to when I made the team for the Raiders and how big that was for me," he says. "You have that moment to yourself, like, 'OMG, I did that.'" - Dory Jackson