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For most people, being an NFL player is a dream job and the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. But for A.J. Francis, it was merely a means to an end.

Indeed, the 30-year-old native of suburban Washington, D.C., enjoyed and cherished his time as a nose tackle for five NFL teams. But it pales in comparison to the feeling the nowWWE Superstar in training gets when he steps into the ring.

“I played Thursday Night Football in front of 10 million people watching at home Thanksgiving night, prime-time TV,” he explains. “Made a play that ended up winning the game and that doesn’t give me the same rush as an eight-minute match in front of nobody. The only way I can describe it is the first time I had a match in front of a crowd, I felt like I was home . ... It was like my whole life, I was a fish out of water and had to climb trees and now I finally got thrown in the ocean.”

On “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures,” premiering Sunday, April 18, on A&E Network, Francis teams up with WWE legend Mick Foley to seek out and try to retrieve key mementos from WWE history that are in the hands of private collectors or museums or hidden away in someone’s basement or attic. WWE’s Stephanie McMahon and Paul “Triple H” Levesque lead the searches for items such as Kane’s original mask, Ric Flair’s Butterfly Robe, Andre the Giant’s passport and Andy Kaufman’s neck brace.

For Francis, it’s all about realizing his lifelong dream of becoming the WWE champion and the series is another step in that direction.

“I played five years in the NFL and if I could have played

10, I would have played 10,” he says. “But no matter what, I would’ve eventually made my way to WWE.”

Full name: Anthony Joseph Francis

Birth date: May 7, 1990

Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

Family ties: Father Mike is a high school coach and counselor; mother Carrie works in IT

Education: Has a Master’s in international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland

Football career: New England Patriots (2013);

Miami Dolphins (2013-15); Seattle Seahawks (2015); Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2016); Washington Football

Team (2016-17)

TV credits: “WWE NXT,” “WWE Raw,” “WWE Smackdown!” “CCW Alive Wrestling”

Did you know: After WWE, Francis plans for a career in politics. “I feel as if you can make a huge difference in people’s lives using politics if you do it the right way,” he says.