It would have cost nearly $5 mil more against the 2018 cap to Tag Sammy rather than Joyner. That's big. That's about enough in itself to account for the entire rookie class the Rams will draft.
That extra money gives the Rams more flexibility to sign guys that they want to keep, or want to acquire, and structure the contracts in advantageous ways especially looking forward.
So coupled with the fact that Joyner can play every DB position effectively, and played FS among the very best, it was a no brainer to Tag him instead of Watkins.
I'm glad that I am wrong (so far) that Snead hasn't gone all in on Watkins to save face on the deal he made to acquire him (Rams are making it clear that they intend to continue to aggressively pursue Sammy). As some rightly point out: it is a sunk cost regardless of what happens. Because no matter who the player is, a value and worth to the team must be determined by the team. And anything beyond that has to be rejected even if it means losing a good player. This is a principle that the Pats have used for a couple of decades. And it allows them to keep their real, contributing Superstars and not retain the merely good who can get superstar money on the open market.
My position: Watkins has no greater (or lesser) value or worth to the team than Woods. Therefore, his contract ought to reflect that. If other teams place a far higher value on Watkins, so be it. If the Niners are willing to pay Watkins the moon to make sure he can't stay with the Rams, so be it. But a team can't chase players and sign them based on the highest money that player can get on the open market, or by the value some teams might place on that player, or they'll always be behind the salary cap 8 ball and be controlled, essentially, by other teams' GMs.
