or Draft a receiver with that second round pick and hang on to him for four years.
A comp pick in round 3 if it is that high will be at the very end of round three. After the thirty second pick in round 3 you could call a fourth round pick. It was a calculated risk but they need to get two years minimum to make it worthwhile.
Paying Watkins more than he is worth to the Rams makes the deal worse, not better.
Any draft pick has some risk - more than a veteran has. We knew that in fact Watkins was capable of being a significant threat on the field. They got one year of that (so far) for not a lot of - $690k, in fact. That's worth a lot right there. They also were looking to get help for Goff, so he could learn to be a quality NFL QB. He became one, and having Watkins helped him learn a lot. That has value.
I would like the Rams to keep Watkins, but they have many players to pay, and many places to spend the money. It's the nature of a salary capped sport that hard decisions have to be made, and dollar values be placed on players. I am skeptical that about a third of their available cap space (barring more cuts) is worth it to the Rams - not in an offense that is built around spreading the ball around to a lot of targets, and an offense that is likely to target their tight ends a lot more in 2018 than happened in 2017. Unless Watkins' demands are much lower than what I suspect, he will be gone, and I think that will be the right decision. Especially since I think it is best for the Rams long term to pay AD, and to frontload it before Gurley and especially Goff become due for extensions.
Think ....DONALD!!
