You look at his play and that Monday night football game against the Chiefs or the NFC championship game against the Saints and you're looking at a top-five tight end.
Then there are games where he completely disappears, drops passes, or ends up as a jag.
I don't think McVay gave up on him but just looked at the economic realities of what other people value him as versus what he's actually worth.
McVay would've been happy to keep Everett but not at the price Seattle paid him.
That said, I agree with you that if he becomes some sort of phenom on a consistent level in Seattle, it won't reflect that well on McVay