Rex Ryan’s crazy idea to get J.J. Watt to fall in the 2011 draft

College players hear all sorts of questions and comments throughout the draft process, but perhaps there’s  been only one coach who would give us the story J.J. Watt shared with Buffalo reporters on Wednesday: Rex Ryan.

Chatting on a conference call in advance of the Houston Texans’ game against the Bills on Sunday afternoon, Watt told the story of Ryan’s humorous plan to get the Wisconsin defensive lineman to drop to the end of the first round in 2011, a plan Ryan relayed at their scouting combine interview.

Now coach of the Bills, Ryan was with the New York Jets then, and as AFC runner-up in the 2010 season, New York picked 30th in the 2011 draft.

“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]’,” Watt recalled.

“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.”

It didn’t come to pass, as the Texans selected Watt 11th overall, and Watt assured reporters Ryan was never serious about his plan, but Watt was still flattered.

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“You never truly know where you’re gonna go in the draft process,” he said. “But you hear a guy that’s just been to the AFC championship game say you’re gonna be gone before you get to his pick, and thinks that highly of you that he wants you to be his pick, that was pretty cool.”

Ryan said on Wednesday that Watt is “probably the top player in the league.”

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