Here's the thing:
I DO want Watkins to stay. But not at any cost, or any deal.
A player MUST have a worth assigned to them and that worth must be real and not imagined.
TA was assigned a worth far beyond what was real. And I guarantee that the same people who are freaking out over the possibility of Watkins walking because they won't pay Julio Jones money for him (assuming that's the hold up), will be the first to yell how dumb the Rams were for overpaying him if Watkins becomes a $15mil, 50 catch 750 yard WR for the Rams. Or (God forbid) he gets hurt, which he regularly has during his short career.
Consider: despite what he says to the public, Watkins may NOT want to stay with the Rams because he understands he will never be "the man". Not even among the WRs.
Or, the Rams got one message about how much he'd want to resign, but a different message is now being sent......and it's just too rich.
It is a very difficult deal to let good players walk; but sometimes you have to in order to not tie yourself down to OK players at elite money. That holds teams back from getting the guys that they need to advance.
And BTW: just because he might not get tagged doesn't mean he's leaving. He might get signed before FA starts. He might need to gauge the market before he's willing to sign with anyone. Who knows. But my bet is that if he hits the open market, the Rams will be instantly looking around for a replacement and if a deal can be worked out, they'll sign that player and move on from Sammy.
