Former 3rd-round pick Brennan Williams pursuing WWE dream

The list of former football players who eventually wound up as professional wrestlers is a long one, and it's a list that Brennan Williams is hoping to add his name to.

Williams is getting set to make the jump from the gridiron to the squared circle, attempting to follow the path of The Rock, Goldberg, Vader, Wahoo McDaniel, and Ernie Ladd, among others. After he was released by the New England Patriots on Thursday, Williams told NESN that he's signed on with the Reality of Wrestling school in Houston.

That school is owned by former world champion and current WWE announcer Booker T, giving Williams a pretty clear path to being noticed if the experiment goes well. The WWE has turned plenty of former football players into stars, including the recently ascended Roman Reigns, and their relatively new developmental facility in Florida has increased the number of opportunities available for would-be pro grapplers to learn under the WWE umbrella.

A third-round pick of the Houston Texans in 2013, Williams never quite found his footing in the league. He underwent microfracture surgery before his rookie season began and was waived by the Texans before ever playing a game. Williams was unable to make the Jacksonville Jaguars this summer, and lasted just two days with the Pats before getting the bump from their practice squad.

Standing in at 6-foot-6 and weighing 314 pounds, Williams, who stands at 6-foot-6 and weighs in at 314 pounds, definitely has the requisite size to be an imposing presence as a wrestler, something he's been open about wanting to do since entering the NFL. Still just 24, the WWE superfan has plenty of time to make his second career dream a reality.

He's already taking strides to make this happen, searching himself in the dirt sheets and trying to figure out his eventual in-ring wardrobe.