Yeah. Tough crowd.
Besides the fact that Dickerson didn't really have a QB worth his weight from 83-86 (Everett was a rookie in 86), the Rams' passing game was almost non-existent. They were nearly 1-dimensional. If the defense got burned, the Rams had trouble coming back. Faulk had Warner. Faulk was an astonishing talent, but he did have a QB. Dickerson was the Rams offense.
There was also no FA at all. Teams had all the power. There was no CBA to give ED an option to do anything other than hold out. The NFLPA had to decertify, IIRC, sometime in the late 80's to get the NFL to the bargaining table. And these were Georgia's Rams, run by Shaw. In those days, the Rams were an accessory for Georgia.
Dickerson knew what he was worth to the team--sans a decent QB--but he wasn't going to get it without putting pressure on the FO. Different era.
If Dickerson had arrived in 93, when the first CBA was signed, he probably would have been a Ram for life.