J.J. Watt

Rex Ryan had 'sick' plan to try to draft J.J. Watt with Jets

Published Dec. 3, 2015 11:39 a.m. ET

foxsports

J.J. Watt wasn't even a top 10 pick back in 2011.

He fell to No. 11, which is where the Houston Texans scooped him up and haven't looked back since. That's not to say other teams didn't want a chance to select the defensive end out of Wisconsin.

In fact, Rex Ryan and the New York Jets really wanted him to drop to No. 30. So much so that Ryan was willing to do just about anything.

During a conference call with the Buffalo media, Watt shared a wild story about Ryan's devious plan to get him to fall in the draft. Here's how it went, via NJ.com.

"I sat down there and he kind of real casually -- the whole thing was real casual -- and he just said, 'Hey, man, you're gonna be gone by the time we get to pick, so here's what we're gonna do: We're gonna put out a fake medical report that you have some sort of disease. I don't know what it is, whatever, we'll make it up. And you're gonna drop, but we'll pay you like you're up there [in the first round].

So it was a funny little thing with Rex but something that I'll always remember about the combine. It was kind of a nice compliment to hear from an NFL coach when you're a college kid."

Had teams known just how dominant Watt would be in the NFL, the Texans likely would've received trade offers from every franchise — the Jets included. Now, Ryan is faced with the challenge of slowing down the man he coveted in 2011 as the Texans pay the Buffalo Bills a visit on Sunday.

Watt is playing as well as he ever has, recording 7.5 sacks over the past four games to vault himself into the league-lead for sacks this season with 13.5.

As badly as Ryan wanted Watt in 2011, though, he knew he'd never get the chance to draft him. He was so sure of it that he made a gentlemen's bet before the draft — and lost.

“I remember telling those guys, in our draft room, I made a gentleman’s wager that there was no way that J.J. Watt was going to last past the Dallas Cowboys’ pick,” Ryan said via Chron.com. “And they picked a good player, the offensive lineman from USC ((Tyron Smith), who is a good player, but he’s not J.J. Watt and my brother was there. I was like there’s no way my brother’s going to be standing on a table for this guy and all that. And I ended losing that bet by one spot or something."

So not only did Ryan miss out on drafting Watt, but he lost a bet because of him, too. At least he hit on the pick the Jets did make, selecting Muhammad Wilkerson 30th overall that year.

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