Because cap space matters! You act as though the Rams are thinking about being cheap.
This isn't Monopoly money. A "few million" is a LOT of money. It's real. And the hard cap is real. There are teams that are in cap hell right now perhaps because somebody in the FO thought "we can't lose player X over a few million."

We went through this long debate on this board about Austin and whether or not relatively low production, at a high price, but being a great decoy, was wise. Essentially this is the same argument for Watkins.

IMO there is no way you can reward 500 yards of production with an Elite level WR contract. Good grief!! The guy was FOURTH among all our receivers (including Gurley). And he should be given the Franchise Tag and paid $16 mil?

But I will admit that perhaps McVay and Snead see something else. But I sure as heck haven't heard one word from the Rams about how much the Rams are willing to pay. Or if they would actually consider Franchising him. This is all media and poster speculation.

We'll get a better idea of what they have in mind about Watkins in a few weeks.