When you’re one of the NFL’s all-time greats, you’d think your kid would be following your footsteps straight into the league, right? Well, not for Warren Sapp. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers legend has made it clear that he doesn’t want his son, Warren Sapp II, aka “Deuce,” chasing that same football dream. If a father doesn’t want his son to follow his legacy, something is awfully wrong. In his press conference, Sapp pointed out the dark side that is often kept hidden behind all the glamor.

On December 10, during Buffaloes’ press conference, the former defensive powerhouse, now a graduate assistant for the Colorado Buffaloes, kept it as real as possible when asked about his son’s future in football: “Because they were like, your son play football? No.” Sapp didn’t mince words when explaining his reasoning. He laid it out flat: “He know his next meal ain’t depending on him sacking a quarterback or running nobody down,” Sapp said. “I made sure he had a real good education and some other stuff backing him up to where you didn’t have to go do this.” That’s Sapp’s approach—giving his kid a chance to succeed without the pressures that come with chasing football stardom.

Look, Sapp’s message isn’t about holding his son back; it’s about making sure Deuce has more options than he did. “Providing a better lifestyle for your children that they don’t have to do what we did,” he explained. “Now if you choose, your kid got better chance of being brain surgeon than doing what we did for a living.” Sapp’s perspective is eye-opening. For all the glory and fame, his journey came with plenty of hardships, and he’s hell-bent on ensuring Deuce doesn’t face the same pitfalls.