Yep. A completely logical statement.

If McVay thought that Watkins was the be-all, end-all of his WR corp and they key to his offense, there is no way he is gone.
As you say; despite what some here might think, nobody on that team knows the nuances of Sammy Watkins abilities and limitations, attitude and goals, or prospective health issues, more than McVay.

And if he doesn't, then he's not a good HC.

Don't get me wrong. McVay made it clear that all things being equal, he'd prefer to have Sammy back.
We all suspected then that those words had a specific meaning: "we want Sammy back under specific circumstances". In the terms of contract and FA, that means money.

Will McVay be proved to be right? That Sammy's relative value to what they'd have to pay to retain him wasn't sufficient? TBD. But it was a deliberate decision; not an accident. It's not the Browns forgetting to get the paperwork in on time so that they could acquire AJ McCarron.

After witnessing what he did last year, to go against what McVay decided doesn't have much logical basis.