Before the "hate mail" starts: I LIKE Sammy Watkins. I would like him to remain a Ram. But NOT at a Franchise Tag price and not at some long term contract price that is north of $11 mil per year. He just isn't worth it. IMO, he's worth about what was paid to Woods. But I have this hunch that he thinks he's worth a lot more and is going to be hard to sign unless somebody ponies up. And who knows: some idiotic team like Cleveland just might throw some stupid number at him and he can't resist.
The thing is this: there are other WRs even on the FA market that could give us pretty much what Watkins gives us, at less money. Richardson and Wallace come to mind. Might they not have quite as much production as Watkins? Hard to say. 500 + yards at WR isn't very much. But if the Rams were to pass on Watkins demands, whoever replaces him WILL have some amount of production and WILL draw the safety and/or CB deep because he'll run deeper routes. It's not as if a different WR is going to have 0 yards and 0 TDs or if the defense is just going to leave the guy unguarded.
But, we'll soon see how much McVay values Watkins. My concern is that GM egos being what they are, Snead is just liable to lobby to pay Sammy a big number because he doesn't want to be the GM that gave away a young starting CB and a 2nd round pick for a WR 1 year rental.
